IRNA � Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi in a message said that Zafar Satellite will be launched within hours.

He wrote in his Instagram page that count-down for launching has started.

Earlier, he had appreciated the efforts made by Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami, saying Iranian Simorgh weighs over 80 tons and will take Zafar satellite to 530 km up into the outer atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in response to users� question with regard to cost of the project, Azari-Jahromi said that less than two million euros has been spent for making the satellite, adding that it would have cost five times more if Iran had wanted to buy it.

In the meantime, spokesman for Ministry of Defense Aerospace Organization Ahmad Hosseini said Iran has broke the monopoly of nine states over know-how to launch satellites.

According to officials, Zafar Research Satellite has been developed by specialists and elites of the University of Science and Technology and has been delivered to the Space Organization for putting it into orbit.

The satellite has been designed for imaging, sending and saving messages and creating a link between the two users.

Preparing map of lands, basic map, civil development map, agricultural fields map, map on changes in lands natural environment and jungles, monitoring developments in seasonal and perpetual lakes, identifying damaged areas after the crisis and upgrading structural maps are among missions of the satellite.

Zafar also carries S&F consignment which provides features such as broadcasting a single message to all users, one-way voice communication between two users, sending a message to 256 direct users.