Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that Iran's new space center, named Imam Khomeini Space Center, will be launched in the future, local daily Tehran Times reported on Sunday.

This new space center which is 80 percent complete will be used for sending satellites made by Iran and other Muslim countries into space, Vahidi was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The Iranian scientists and experts from the Aerospace Industry Organization of the Defense Ministry, will send into orbit new generation of the Islamic Republic's satellites from this center," said the minister.

As the first step, Vahidi said, the Tolou (dawn) satellite will be launched into orbit from the Imam Khomeini space center in the future, according to the report.

Iran, a founding member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, launched its first domestically-made data-processing satellite, the Omid (Hope), into space in 2009.

Iran has frequently said that it will push ahead with its space program in the coming years.

Source: Xinhua News Agency