Ireland is to launch its first ever spacecraft that will also be designed and built here.

The satellite project will be overseen by Maynooth-based company, Space Technology Ireland.

It has previously manufactured parts for space missions - including the Rosetta craft which landed a probe on a comet last year.

Editor of Astronomy Ireland, David Moore, says the €5m launch of the spacecraft will take place from Ireland within two years and will be paid for by Russia.

He says the project will be managed by the director of Space Technology Ireland, Professor Susan McKenna-Lawlor, and it is not yet clear what making it will cost.

But the launch itself has already been paid for.

Space commentator Leo Enright says it is a novel proposal with a very real chance of success because it is quite modest.

He describes what the satelite might be researching.