BIRDS-3 deployment of Raavana-1

Posted on by admin

Deploy of the Raavana-1 satellite to the orbit (400km, inclination 51.6 degree of ISS) using Japanese Kibo experiment module on 17th June 2019 at 15.45 Sri Lanka Time

Raavana-1 was deployed to the orbit..

The first satellite (a Nano satellite) developed by Sri Lankan engineers through a joint multinational (Sri Lanka, Nepal and Japan) project (Birds-3) which was carried to the International Space Station (ISS) on 19th April 2019 through the Cygnus space craft, was successfully deployed to the 400km orbit (the orbit at the inclination of 51.6 degree to equatorial plane where the ISS is orbiting) on 17th June 2019 at 15.45 Sri Lanka time together with the other two.

A public event was organized on (17th June 2019 evening) that day at ACCIMT main auditorium in the presence of officials from ministries, institutes, media and general public.  ACCIMT Nano satellite project details including history, objectives, international programs, current progress and future plans were presented by the DDG (T) and the live video from the JAXA about the satellite deployments were screened.  A representative from the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Japan participated for the JAXA event also.

The first CW (Continuous Wave) beacon identifications of all three satellites were received by the ACCIMT ground station during a pass through Sri Lanka at about 17.55 on the same day. Thereafter several ground stations (in the ‘Birds’ network) are receiving signals form the satellite and commands from Japan are acknowledged by the Raavana-1. Once the satellite is allowed to be commanding from Sri Lanka, it is expected to receive data from the payloads which are to be used for research purposes and system designs tested for space heritage for the next satellite development project.

The 1st ever cube satellite of Sri Lanka completed and deployed by Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies in agreement with Kyushu Institute of Technologies Japan is successful after receiving data from all the sub system status and all payload systems data including the camera images to the ground station at ACCIMT for the past 6 weeks since it’s operation from 17th June 2019.

Main data downloads from the satellite includes following,

  • Research data on satellite orientation in the orbit using Gyroscope
  • Research data on orbital (400km) magnetics using the Magnetometer
  • Data on camera images (low resolution and high resolution) using ground command controls instantaneous or timer (images from anywhere in the Globe depending on the orbit time).

The satellite data downloading and command control currently operated from ACCIMT ground station and Japan (Kyutech) ground station using their automated facilities.

Research data will be published through the ACCIMT website for anyone interested in using them free of charge. Also anyone interested in getting the experience of satellite data downloading and commanding (when satellite is passing our region) can make a visit to ACCIMT after getting permission from Director General and contacting the ground station manager.