RAAVANA 1: Sri Lanka’s first ever satellite which was released to orbit on June 17, 2019, is not an isolated project but a pivotal part of a national project. Engineer Sanath Panawennage, Director General and CEO of Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, a proud pioneer of Raavana 1 revealed the background story of the giant leap of Sri Lankan Space History.
To widen the space capability, the need of the hour for the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies (ACCMT); a child agency of Ministry of Science, Technology and Research (formerly Ministry of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy), Sri Lanka, was the expertise exposure to space technology.
Space Technology is a discipline which goes back to the time of the 20th century in terms of a Space Race as result of Cold War rivals between Soviet Union of Russia and United States of America. Now countries like China, Japan, India and European countries altogether as European Space Agency have entered the Space Race along with South Africa, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil.
 Director General and CEO of Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies Engineer Sanath Panawennage |
In 2014, Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies commenced a project with the mission to gain the support internationally and therefore the connections with pioneers in space technology have dug the pathway to the development of Space Technology. In October 2015, Sri Lanka achieve another milestone by gaining the membership of United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) where its mission is “to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and dissemination of legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space.” However, the disadvantage is that countries with much higher potential get the chance to explore due to the regulations, according to Engineer Panawennage.
He further stated that it was never easy because the members of the committee were the countries who were well established with space research centres and we becoming a member is a prestige since it gives recognition. It is a greater opportunity in being exposed to international space technology. In August 2016, Arthur C. Clarke and Samara National Research University of Russia signed an agreement to hold a workshop with the purpose of overcoming the challenge of being resource-less. This university is one of Russia’s leading engineering and technical institutions where the first successful human space flight, “Vostok 1” was made and the one in which Yuri Gagarin flew to space in.
Engineer Panawennage explained the importance of experience from different international institutions in learning information technology as satellites have uses in a wider range of fields. RAAVANA 1 is an Earth Observation Satellite which is also called Earth Remote Sensing Satellite. It is a non- military Earth Observation Satellite from orbit. It can be used for environmental monitoring in the field of meteorology and map making. In the field of agriculture, satellite data can be used for crop monitoring and forecasting by monitoring fertilising and watering management and collect data on the moist content in soil. The satellite data can also be used in forest resource management, for example during the Amazon Rainforest burning, the fire spreading was observed by satellites. The marine resource management, urban development projects management, highway monitoring, land management and natural resource management can be done via satellite data. Therefore, developing space technology can lead us to a better future. Also, natural disaster management is a global development goal of “Space 2030 Agenda” of United Nations Committee of Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
Among all the other achievements, Arthur C. Clarke Institute is a participant of the Regional Space Application Programme. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific has given opportunity to 62 membering states to introduce technical training as post graduate diplomas with the aid of foreign scientists and experts from the Department of Irrigation, Mahaweli Development Authority, Department of Meteorology, Minister of Disaster Management, Department of Agrarian Services and Department of Survey. At the United Nations General Assembly, Sri Lanka has got opportunity to make connections with the International Affair Coordinator of the University of Kyshu which is considered as one of the most prestigious and research-oriented universities in Japan to obtain technical skills. In September 2016, with the collaboration of several Sri Lankan engineers, Arthur C. Clarke initiated to build a Nano satellite. In 2017, University of Kyshu offered scholarships for space engineering. Out of 1400 scholarship applications, Dulani Chamika Vithanage made it to the last 20. This scholarship has never being offered to a developing country before.
During Former President Maithripala Sirisena’s official visit to Russia in May 2017, Sri Lanka came to a memorandum of understanding with Roscosmos State Cooperation for Space Activities of Russia with the participation of Susil Premajayantha- former Minister of Technology and Science. In August 2017, 17 Sri Lankan Engineers were sent to University of Samara for a workshop on Nano satellite. In September 2017, Tharindu Dayarathna from the Department of Electoral and electronic engineering of University of Peradeniya was interviewed and recruited to work with Vithanage for satellite hardware designing in Japan. Engineer Sanath Panawennage, the Project Director
Deputy Director General Kamani Ediriweera and the Head of the Division, Kavinda Jayawardena have also immensely contributed to RAAVANA 1 be a success. The Nano satellite was sent to Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and it was given to National Aeronautics and Space Administration of (NASA) to be launched to the orbit on Cygnux Spacecraft; an American automated cargo spacecraft which transports supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).
When naming the Sri Lanka’s first satellite, Engineer Sanath Panawennage wanted a name which demonstrates the Sri Lankan authenticity. Therefore, though he wanted to name the satellite “Dadu Monara”, the first flying device according to the Sri Lankan folklore. However, it was later named RAAVANA due to it is simplicity even for a non-native speaker and as it was King Raavana who built the flying device.
The ACCMT also expressed their gratitude to Professor K. K. Y. W. Perera, Patali Champika Ranawaka- former Minister of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy and all the persons who contributed to the project.
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The Sri Lankan project team and their roles
Eng. Sanath Panawennage, the Director General and CEO, ACCIMT
Founder of the RAAVANA-1 Project.
Conceptualized and planned the project identifying the potential contributions from prospective stakeholders including Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech), Japan, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Government of Sri Lanka. Formed and led the Sri Lankan project team, acting as the Principal Investigator of the ACCIMT-side in the ACCIMT-Kyutech Corporate Research Agreement (CRA) for implementation of the project.
Eng. Kamani Ediriweera (Dy Director General –Technical Operations) and Eng. Kavindra Jayawrdene (Director- Communications Engrg Division), ACCIMT
Assisted the Director General in project formulation, implementation and management, and provided technical guidance to the research engineers.
Tharindu Dayarathna and Dulani Withanage
 The satellite |
Deployed by ACCIMT to work at Kyutech laboratories (whilst undergoing postgraduate training in space technologies) in partnership with the BIRDS-3 Nanosatellite development team, to construct and test the hardware modules of the satellite as per the standard nanosatellite design provided. In addition to the above task, Tharindu specialised in the communication subsystem of the satellite and the experimental payload called LoRa, while Dulani specialised in the Attitude Determination and Control (ADC) subsystem of the satellite.
Kavindra Sampath
Under the guidance of the senior team members, developed the ground station facility at the ACCIMT for communicating with RAAVANA-1. (This is the first ground station outside Japan that successfully communicated with the BIRDS range of experimental nanosatellites).
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Launching of the satellite through the International Space Station was handled by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as per the corporate research agreement between the ACCIMT and Kyutech. Satellite was carried to the international Space station by the spacecraft Cygnus 1 through the NASA rocket Antares.
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