Iran plans to orbit a new home-made satellite, Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari said, adding that the country will also launch an oceangoing ship in the near future

Iran plans to orbit a new home-made satellite, Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari said, adding that the country will also launch an oceangoing ship in the near future.

"We will launch a satellite this week," Sattari said in Tehran on Sunday without revealing any further detail or the exact launch date. He also informed of Iran's plans to launch an oceangoing ship in the country's national waters in the near future.

In October, Deputy Head of Iran Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli announced that Tehran was preparing to orbit three new home-made satellites, called Zafar (Triumph), Tolou (Sunrise) and Pars, from more powerful launchers and on the back of bigger carriers in the near future.

"Launching the under-construction satellites, including Sharifsat and Nahid, are also among the short-term plans of the ISA," he added.

Also, Iranian Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari told reporters in the same month that Iran hoped that its Sharifsat satellite would be sent into orbit this year.

Fazeli had announced in May that Iran planned to launch three home-made monitoring satellites into orbit in the next Iranian calendar year (March 2015-March 2016). "Zafar, Tolou and AUT Sat will be sent into space onboard the Simorq satellite carrier," he said.

Fazeli noted that the satellites would transmit images of the Earth's surface to ground stations.