COLOMBO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will launch its first ever satellite into space in April marking its entry into the global space age, officials from Sri Lanka's Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education said on Wednesday.

The satellite, which will be named RAAVANA-1, is a research satellite built by two Sri Lankan students from the University of Peradeniya and the Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies.

The satellite was designed and built at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan and is 1,000 cubic cm in size and weighs 1.1 kg.

Local media reports said RAAVANA-1 was officially handed over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Feb. 18, and will be sent to the International Space Station on April 17, through the assistance of Cygnus-1, a spacecraft from the United States.

The satellite is expected to fulfill five missions including the capturing of pictures of Sri Lanka and its surrounding regions.

The RAAVANA-1 is expected to orbit 400 km away from earth. It will have a minimum lifespan of one and half years.