SL's 1st research satellite launched into space

Colombo (News 1st): Sri Lanka's first research satellite RAAVANA-1 built by two Sri Lankan engineers was launched into space early this morning (April 18). The satellite was carried to the International Space Station as cargo, aboard the Antares rocket, which carries the Cygnus cargo spacecraft. This Nanosatellite goes down in the history books as the first satellite to be designed by two Sri Lankan nationals. Raavana-1 was designed by Tharindu Dayaratne who is an electrical and electronics engineer of the University of Peradeniya together with Dulani Chamika who is a graduate of the Asian Technological Institute in Thailand. They built this satellite while studying space engineering at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. The satellite was handed to the Japanese space exploration agency on February 18. Thereafter, Tharindu and Dulani together with the Japanese space exploration agency handed this over to NASA. The satellite is expected to fulfil five missions. This satellite is to be used to test the Laura Module software. When building the satellite the duo concentrated more on software than on the hardware. The aim of this satellite is to test the reduction of orbiting speeds around the earth. Measuring the strength of the gravitational pull of the earth is one of its other aims. The satellite was launched to space at 2.16 am today. It is expected to orbit around the earth 15 times a day at a speed of 7.6 km per second.