FNA - Iran has developed its space technology much more rapidly than the countries which have made great achievements in this field, including the US and Russia, an official said on Sunday.

"The US and Russia acquired space technology after respectively 20 and 21 years while the Islamic Republic made this achievement in less than 8 years," member of Iran's High Council for Cyberspace Reza Taqipour said on Saturday.

In relevant remarks last Wednesday, Head of the Iranian Space Agency Morteza Barari said that the country will launch a new sensing-operational satellite named Payam into the orbit in future.

"The process to take over Payam sensing satellite has started and completed and we are now making systemic tests on the function of the satellite," Barari said.

He noted that the satellite will be launched to an orbit higher than 500km above the Earth and will stay in the space for two years.

Barari said that the time for launching Payam depends on the results of the tests.

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.

Also, last month, former Head of the Iran Space Research Center Hassan Haddadpour announced that the country's experts have built two new satellites that are both ready to launch.

"At present, satellites Nahid 1 and Pars 1 are ready to launch," Haddadpour said.

"Also, Nahid 2 may also be launched next year," he added.

Also, last October, Haddadpour announced in October that the country would 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 2017 that the country would 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.