Kepler Communications announced a significant strategy shift last week making changes to its optical data relay network to reflect changes in the marketplace and from lessons learned. To execute the strategy shift, the company will seek changes from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to previous fillings.
In a news release Kepler said, “To comply with FCC regulations, a company must submit a request to the FCC if it intends to make substantive changes to a licensed system, such as changes to the constellation size or to the size and weight of the individual satellite. Kepler’s system changes reflect compliance with updated FCC rules, including the requirement for a satellite to deorbit within a 5-year period.”
Kepler is substantially changing the size and number of satellites of its optical data relay network. Whereas the original constellation was going to be 140 12 kg sized satellites, similar in size to their radio frequency (RF) satellites, the new satellites will be 260 kg in size with a first tranche of 10 satellites developed.
The updated constellation will be 18 satellites in total. The new 10 260 kg sized satellites along with Kepler-22 (ÆTHER-1) and Kepler-23 (ÆTHER-2), optical pathfinder satellites launched a year ago, and six on-orbit radio frequency (RF) CubeSats. SpaceQ asked Kepler by email which of its RF satellites will be used, but the company said it had not released that information yet. The last six RF satellites Kepler launched where in 2022 and 2023. Kepler has 23 satellites on orbit consisting of the two pathfinder optical relay network satellites, and the rest RF satellites including their first two test satellites.
Mina Mitry, chief executive officer and co-founder of Kepler Communications said, “Kepler has closely watched optical technology evolve and made the decision to adjust our strategy to develop an optical data relay infrastructure that modernizes communications for commercial and government customers. In our initial filing, we detailed a data relay network based on RF technology, which would have required a larger number of satellites to serve customer needs. With the maturation of optical technology, standards and market demand, Kepler has proudly shifted our architecture to provide customers cutting-edge Internet capabilities in space with a more sustainable network.”
Kepler added, “The updated FCC filing supports Kepler’s significant progress resonating with optical customers, highlighted by recent announcements of the company leading development of the European Space Agency’s High Throughput Optical Network (HydRON) program, and announcements supporting NASA’s Communication Services Project (CSP) and the Space Development Agency (SDA) Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) contract. “
A spokesperson for Kepler also told SpaceQ that development of the new larger satellites is well underway at their 2880 sq. m. (31,000 sq. ft.) facility in Toronto which they moved in to earlier this year. The 10 new satellites are scheduled to launch in Q4 2025. We asked for a an image of the new satellite design, however Kepler informed us that no images have been publicly released yet.