TEHRAN – Iran on Friday successfully launched an observation satellite into orbit under a presidential decree, said the country’s Press TV.

The spacecraft, named Navid (Herald), weighs 50 kilograms and can take pictures in low attitudes of about 250 to 375 km from the Earth, it said.

The satellite was completely designed and built by Iranian experts at the Science and Technology University in Tehran, Mohammadsaeid Jabalameli, head of the university, was quoted as saying.

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.