Toronto-based Kepler Communications continues to cement its role in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) high-throughput broadband architecture, announcing today it has been selected as the prime contractor for HydRON Element 3.
The new contract, valued at €18.6 million (approximately $30.1 million), will see Kepler deliver a hosted-payload mission designed to validate the interoperability of several optical communication terminals in orbit.
Under the Element 3 contract, Kepler will provide a standard company-built satellite to serve as the hosting bus. The spacecraft will carry multiple optical communication terminals (OCT) provided by European manufacturers TESAT Spacecom, Mbryonics Ltd., and Astrolight UAB. In addition, the mission will integrate a space situational awareness payload from Germany’s Vyoma GmbH to bring online real-time data access capabilities for space domain awareness services. Kepler is tasked with managing the mission’s operational lifecycle, from outfitting the bus with real-time optical intersatellite links and prepping for launch, to overseeing the actual on-orbit operations.
The announcement represents the latest progression in Kepler’s involvement with ESA’s High-throughput Optical Network (HydRON) project , which falls under the agency’s ScyLight program. The overarching HydRON project aims to create a multi-orbital optical communications network with a terabit per second capacity to provide resilient and secure data transfer.
Kepler’s work on Element 3 builds directly on its existing role in the project. In late 2024, ESA awarded Kepler an initial €36 million (approximately $58.3 million) contract to serve as the prime contractor for HydRON Element 1, which involved developing a low Earth orbit segment leveraging the company’s optical relay constellation technologies. (Element 2 of the network was subsequently awarded to Thales Alenia Space). With Element 3, Kepler expands its footprint in the program by bringing together payloads from various service providers to demonstrate practical interoperability.
“HydRON is a key initiative in advancing sovereign optical communications and enabling high-capacity data transport,” said Mina Mitry, CEO and Co-Founder of Kepler. “Element 3 represents a critical step in broad interoperability testing and delivering real-time access to data for various applications.”
Laurent Jaffart, ESA’s Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity , noted that working with Kepler on Element 3 is “key to building new industrial capabilities, demonstrating new service concepts, fostering system extensions, and promoting international cooperation and interoperability.”
Kepler’s participation in the European initiative is backed by the Canadian Space Agency via the Canada-ESA Cooperative Agreement. Because Canada holds a distinct position as ESA’s sole non-European cooperating state, domestic companies can tap into otherwise restricted European space markets—an arrangement that Kepler noted in its release typically generates follow-on business valued at triple the initial contract.