Posted: Tue, Feb 3, 2015, 6:55 AM ET (1155 GMT)

In its first launch in 2012, an Iranian Safir rocket placed a small remote sensing satellite into orbit that will perform remote imaging, the country's government announced Monday. The Safir rocket lifted off from an Iranian military base at approximately 3:50 am EST (0850 GMT) and placed the Fajr, or Dawn, spacecraft into a low Earth orbit. The spacecraft, reported by Iranian media to weigh 52 kilograms, will provide imagery of the Earth. Fajr is the fourth satellite launched by Iran since 2009.