TEHRAN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday completed installation of an indigenous rocket intended to carry an Iranian satellite to space soon, an Iranian minister said.

File photo: CGTN

"This is the Iranian Simorgh installed at the site. It weighs over 80 tons and will carry Zafar (the satellite) up to 530 km above the earth," tweeted Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iranian minister of information and communications technology.

"It will take eight minutes from the start to the end of its operation, and we hope ... to receive the pictures by Zafar" after eight minutes, he said.

Zafar is a 90 kg remote-sensing satellite equipped with color cameras and can be used for surveying oil reserves, mines, jungles and natural disasters.