Kepler Communications has 10 AETHER optical relay satellites manifested on the SpaceX Twilight rideshare mission scheduled for launch early Sunday morning.
The 57 minute launch window opens at 8:19 a.m. ET. A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. If they can’t launch during that window there is an identical launch window on January 12.
The launch is a milestone for Kepler as these satellites are the first tranche of 10 satellites for their AETHER optical relay constellation. Previously Kepler had launched two pathfinder satellites, AETHER-1 and AETHER-2, in Nov. 2023 which demonstrated their optical performance including noteworthy space-to-air optical communication links.
SpaceQ reached out to Kepler ahead of the launch and Mina Mitry, CEO and co-founder of Kepler Communications said, “This launch marks an important milestone not just for Kepler, but for Canada’s role in the future of space. By operating the world’s first optical relay constellation, we’re building sovereign, high-performance infrastructure that enables Canadian and international missions to move, process, and secure data in space in real time. From Toronto, we’re delivering globally competitive technology that supports customers in Earth observation, orbital data centers, and defence, while creating highly skilled jobs and long-term economic value here at home.”
There are 30 other payloads manifested on the Twilight mission. Deployment of the 40 manifested payloads is expected to start at 1 hour, 1 minute, 33 seconds after launch (T+ 01:01:33). Kepler AETHER satellites will begin deploying at 02:21:41 with AETHER-8.
AETHER satellite deployment times after launch:
- T+ 02:21:41 AETHER-8 deploys
- T+ 02:23:27 AETHER-12 deploys
- T+ 02:23:28 AETHER-11 deploys
- T+ 02:24:09 AETHER-5 deploys
- T+ 02:25:00 AETHER-9 deploys
- T+ 02:25:40 AETHER-6 deploys
- T+ 02:26:44 AETHER-4 deploys
- T+ 02:30:55 AETHER-3 deploys
- T+ 02:32:00 AETHER-7 deploys
- T+ 02:32:59 AETHER-10 deploys