Sri Lanka’s first satellite launched into orbit 

Sri Lanka’s first satellite, Raavana 1, was launched into orbit recently from the International Space Station (ISS) along with two other Bispectral and Infrared Remote Detection (BIRDS 3) satellites from Japan and Nepal.

The Japanese experiment module Kibo, which was developed for the ISS by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was used to deploy the Sri Lankan satellite into orbit at least 400 km away from Earth at an inclination of 51.6 degrees.

The cube satellite Raavana-1 was designed and developed by Tharindu Dayaratne, an electrical and electronics engineer from the University of Peradeniya, and Dulani Chamika Vithanage, a graduate of the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, who are both research engineers studying space engineering at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan.

With a minimum projected lifespan of one and a half years, the research satellite measures 11.3 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm and weighs approximately 1.05 kg. It is expected to achieve five missions including taking images of Sri Lanka and its surrounding regions.