Kepler Communications, in a forward looking move, has added famed Canadian astronaut, business leader, and best-selling author Chris Hadfield as an advisor for its human spaceflight initiatives.
Since leaving the Canadian Space Agency Hadfield has built a business around himself and his accomplishments in the form of Chris Hadfield Inc. Along the way he helped establish the Space stream at the Creative Destruction Lab where he mentors space startups. Hadfield also advises SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Astrolab, and Planet and is a director of public and private companies according to his website. His latest book, Final Orbit, released on Oct. 7 is a best seller on the Globe and Mail hardcover fiction list and Amazon.
His new role at Kepler though is interesting. Kepler wouldn’t share what type of time commitment or if he’s being compensated, but Kepler told SpaceQ by email he’ll be “supporting our efforts to advance human spaceflight communications and strengthen our industry relationships, and focusing “on providing strategic insight, amplifying our vision, and helping guide our engagement across the broader space community,” as the company puts it.
In the Kepler news release, Chris Hadfield said, “Every mission depends on communication as the backbone to keep humans connected, informed, and safe in space. As human spaceflight evolves rapidly, Kepler is building the network that will enable humankind to go farther, stay longer, and communicate securely in real-time.”
Kepler has been working towards providing communication services to various communities including the United States’ Department of Defense Space Development Agency, the European Space Agency for the HydRON Space-Based Terabit Broadband Network and so it should come as no surprise that they would look to human spaceflight activities.
With the International Space Station set to be de-orbited in 2031 and several public-private partnership efforts underway to provide commercial space stations, along with a few private space missions, Kepler clearly sees an opportunity, a long-term opportunity.
That opportunity also includes activities beyond low Earth orbit in cislunar space.
“Chris understands better than anyone how critical dependable communications are to human spaceflight,” said Mina Mitry, chief executive officer and co-founder at Kepler. “His insights and in-space experience will help us strengthen relationships with customers and partners who are designing and flying the next generation of human missions. We’re thrilled to have him on board as we expand Kepler’s role in supporting human presence beyond Earth.”
Kepler has launched 23 satellites since 2018 in low Earth orbit including its original two test satellites, two pathfinder optical relay network satellites, and 19 RF satellites and is planning to launch the first tranche of 10 new larger satellites for its optical data relay network as early as Q4 this year. The new satellites will be 260 kg in size compared to the original planned 12 kg size.
Kepler is usually coy on announcing when their satellites will be launched, but we will note that SpaceX has a Transporter-15 Rideshare currently scheduled for no earlier than Nov. 10. If Kepler is to launch this year, it’s likely to be on this flight.