Kepler Communications last demonstration satellite, TARS, is now scheduled to launch on August 31 on an Arianespace Vega launcher. That launch has been delayed almost a year. The first delay was the failure of the preceding Vega mission which necessitated a launch failure investigation. Then came the pandemic, and finally weather delays. Now, even as Kepler breathes a sigh of relief as TARS is finally set to launch, the company is also preparing for the launch of its first production satellites.
Yesterday Kepler announced that they had signed a launch agreement with Exolaunch, a German rideshare launch and deployment solutions manager, for the launch of two Kepler 6U XL satellites. These two satellites are part of the first generation of satellites, upwards of 15 satellites, being built with support from Toronto’s Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) using the Spartan satellite platform.
SFL was contracted by Kepler to help them build their first generation of production satellites and consult as Kepler took over production of the entire constellation in their downtown Toronto facility.
The Exolaunch rideshare mission, named Wanderlust, will see 15 smallsats launched on a Russian government Soyuz-2.1b configuration and tentatively scheduled for September 29.
Kepler had previously announced in October of last year that another rideshare company, Innovative Space Logistics (ILS), had been contracted to also launch two satellites on the Russian GK Launch Services commercial Soyuz-2-1A/Fregat-M launch vehicle. That launch was scheduled for originally scheduled for Q2 or Q3 of this year. It is now tentatively scheduled for mid-October.
So within the next two months Kepler could see four production satellites for its constellation launched.
For internal tracking purposes, we’ve designated the launch of the two Kepler satellites on the Exolaunch rideshare mission as Kepler 6 and Kepler 7. Because Kepler had previously announced the ILS launch agreement last October, we had already designated those two satellites as Kepler 4 and Kepler 5. Of course, at some point we’ll find out from Kepler themselves what name they’ve designated for each of their production satellites and adjust our list accordingly.
Kepler is also expected to launch several more satellites in Q4 of this year with SpaceX on a dedicated rideshare missions. Last December they announced they had purchased 400 kg of launch capacity which could be used on one or more SmallSat Rideshare Program missions.
Kepler’s first generation production satellites use SFL’s Spartan platform as previously mentioned. This generation of satellites weigh in at 12 kg as outlined in documents Kepler provided ISED during their licensing process. With four first generation satellites being launched on the Russian launchers, Kepler could see 6 – 11 more satellites launched this year with SpaceX.