TEHRAN - The Iranian Space Agency launched the domestically-built "Khayyam" satellite with a wide range of environmental functions at 10:22 local time on Tuesday.

Named after Persian polymath Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131), the satellite was put into orbit by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Iranian Space Agency said the satellite will be fully controlled by Iranian experts and technicians “from the first day” of its launch. “No other country will have access to such information, and rumors about using satellite images for another country's military purposes are false,” the agency added.

Improving productivity in the agriculture sector, surveying water resources, managing natural disasters, confronting deforestation, monitoring border areas and mining explorations are among the main objectives of the satellite.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Issa Zarepour said launching the Khayyam satellite will usher in strategic cooperation between Iran and Russia in the space industry which will be continued until indigenizing space technology.

Tehran and Moscow have signed documents to expand cooperation in the fields of communications and information technology. In July, Zarepour and Russian Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media Minister Maksut Shadayev agreed to develop relations in digital services, communications, software, hardware, and telecommunications.

Meanwhile, the Iran-Russia Joint Technology Center was established in May at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University with the aim of implementing joint projects and developing bilateral technological cooperation.

MG