Estonia's first satellite, ESTCube-1, will today be sent on its way to the European Space Agency's launch site in French Guiana.

The satellite is due to lift off, alongside two others, on a launch vehicle at the beginning of April. It will then travel 680 kilometers from Earth, where it will test solar sail technology developed by Finnish researcher Pekka Janhunen.

Around 100 students and scientists contributed to creation of the roughly one-kilogram satellite, which was nearly six years in the making. The satellite was used as the basis for 40 research projects and three doctoral theses.