Iran plans to launch a new satellite, the Rasad 1, in the last week of August.

Iranian Telecommunication Minister Reza Taghipour told Mehr News Agency that Rasad 1 was due for launch atop a domestic carrier during the period marking Government Week (last week of August).

Taghipour had previously said that new satellites capable of transmitting data and images would be launched by March 2011.

The country launched its first domestically built satellite, Omid, in February 2009.