TEHRAN – Iran has spent 1.2 million euros for manufacturing Payam satellite over a period of ten years, the information and communication technology minister wrote on his Instagram account.

Some people ask for transparency in the amount of budget allocated for manufacturing the satellite, he said.

The budget is not an expenditure but an investment, just like e-government, the remote sensing satellite will improve usage of water resources and methods of agriculture.

The team, which manufactured Payam, plans to make next satellite with an accuracy of 40 times higher and more efficiency.

Iran launched homegrown Payam satellite on January 15, however, the satellite's carrier rocket could not reach the "necessary speed" and so did not reach the orbit.

Payam, a 90kg non-military satellite, was planned to be sent into a 500km orbit using domestically-made Simorgh satellite-carrier rocket.

Manufactured by Amirkabir University of Technology, the image resolution of the Payam satellite was 45 meters and could stay in orbit for three years.

SB/MQ/MG