FNA- Managing-Director of the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) Manouchehr Manteqi announced that his country ranks second in the region in the construction of space infrastructures and launching different satellites into the orbit.

"Iran ranks second in launch and space structures, ranks second in space exploration sciences, ranks fifth in remote sensing, ranks seventh in telecommunications, ranks fifth in satellite technologies and ranks second in the region in navigation," Manteqi said on Tuesday.

Head of the Iran Space Research Center Hassan Haddadpour announced in October that the country will orbit 4 new home-made sensing and telecommunication satellites in the next four years.

"If all sections are developed based on the roadmap of the country's space plan, we will have three sensing satellites and a telecommunication-operational satellite in the orbit by 2021," Haddadpour said.

Haddadpour had also announced in May that the country will send a new home-made sensing-operational satellite, named 'Soha', next year.

"The first sensor-operational satellite which will be prepared for launch next year is named Soha," Haddadpour said.

Elaborating on the satellite's capabilities, he said that it can detect objects with the resolution of 15m and will be deployed in the 36,000-km orbit.

Iran in February unveiled two new home-made satellites of Nahid 1 and Amir Kabir as well as a space tug built for the first time in the country.

The three space crafts were unveiled in a ceremony participated by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on the occasion of the Space Technology Day in Iran.

Nahid 1 is a telecommunication satellite built in the Iranian Space Research Center.

Payam-e Amir Kabir has been designed and built in Amir Kabir University of Technology and is capable of taking images with a precision better than 40 meters.

Meantime, Saman 1 space tug which has been manufactured for the first time in the country is used to transfer the satellites from Low Earth orbit (LEO) to higher-energy orbits.