Sri Lanka’s first satellite Raavana 1 was launched successfully into space yesterday from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s East Shore.
The event which occurred at 2.16 am marked Sri Lanka’s entry into the global space age. BIRDS-3 satellites from Japan, Nepal and Sri Lanka were taken to
International Space Station (ISS) as a cargo and had been boarded onto Antares rocket in this mission which is carrying the Cygnus cargo spacecraft.
Raavana 1 had been designed and built by Research Engineers Tharindu Dayaratne and Dulani Chamika from the Arthur C. Clarke Institute, Moratuwa, at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. It is 1,000 cubic cm in size and weighs 1.1 kg. It is set to be launched into orbit by the end of May or the outset of June. It is expected to orbit the Earth for approximately 15 times per day. Its speed is estimated at 7.6 km per second. It is expected to orbit 400 km away from earth and will have a minimum lifespan of one and a half years.
‘Raavana 1’ was designed to accomplish five missions. Its camera mission is to take pictures of Sri Lanka and its neighbouring countries. Its Lora Demonstration Mission is to validate the module/to be used to data download next satellites. The Attitude Determination and Control Mission of ‘Ravaana 1’ involve the team trying to reduce the angular velocity of the satellite using magnetic torquers.
Raavana 1 was officially handed over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on February 18, 2019.
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