Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday inaugurated a space monitoring center in the country's central city of Arak, official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad said the center will help make use of the space and manage the behavior of the satellites in orbit.

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters that the project aims to provide security for the country's space systems as well as monitor the moving objects in the space, according to IRNA.

By launching this center, Iran can exchange data with other countries, Vahidi added.

In January, reports said Iran had sent a live monkey onboard a homemade rocket named Pishgam (Pioneer) into space. Shortly after, officials said Iran has taken the first major step to send a man into space.

Iran, a founding member of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, launched its first domestically-made data- processing satellite, the Omid (Hope), in 2009.

Source: Xinhua News Agency