Raavana-1, First Sri Lankan Nanosatellite Goes Space Bound

Sri-Lanka
Tharindu Dayaratne (L) and Dulani Chamika (R)

Raavana-1, built by two Sri Lankan engineers, becomes the first Sri Lankan research satellite to reach space. It was carried to the International Space Station aboard Antares rocket as cargo at 0216 hrs local time on April 18.

It is a Nanosatellite expected to orbit around Earth 15 times a day at the speed of 7.6 km per second, is expected to fulfill five missions; two of them being – to test the reduction of orbiting speeds around the Earth and measuring the strength of the gravitational pull of Earth.

The designers of this Nanosatellite are Tharindu Dayaratne, electrical and electronics engineer at University of Peradeniya and Dulani Chamika, graduate from Asian Technological Institute, Thailand. The inception of this satellite was done by the duo when studying space engineering at Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan; focusing more on the software rather than the hardware. After its development it was handed over to the Japanese space exploration agency on February 18; and along with them further handed over to NASA.

The satellite will be used to test the Laura Module software.