Kepler launched two additional satellites on 2021-03-22 via Soyuz-2, expanding its active constellation to a total of 15 satellites.
Kepler 6 and Kepler 7 are smallsats by Kepler Communications Inc. of Canada designed for wideband high-data-rate communications in Ku-band and low-data-rate narrowband communications in S-band.
Highly stable optical clocks combined with optical links are intended for future generations of satellite navigation systems such as Galileo and for new GNSS architectures like the Kepler concept developed at DLR.
Omnispace is competing with satellite IoT companies including Astrocast, Kepler, and Swarm, and those companies have already launched satellites and started offering services.
ISISPACE’s launch service integration team at ISILAUNCH managed and executed the Transporter-1 launch campaign on Kepler’s behalf.
ISISPACE’s ISILAUNCH integration team managed and executed the Transporter-1 launch campaign on Kepler’s behalf.
Kepler is the first company to launch and operate a Ku-band satellite service in Low Earth Orbit.
Kepler commissioned a cubesat production facility at its Toronto headquarters from which the GEN1 satellites are being delivered.
Kepler planned several additional launches in 2021, including launches in March and June 2021 to add more GEN1 satellites to its constellation.
The Kepler satellites KEPLER-8 through KEPLER-15 were launched at approximately 10:00 AM EDT on 2021-01-24.
Momentus Space and Kepler Communications agreed on 2020-10-20 to arrange the 2021 launch of two Kepler satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare flight and delivery to their desired orbital altitude using the Vigoride in-space transportation vehicle.
Kepler-5 was the first satellite that Kepler integrated in-house and built in its new satellite manufacturing facility with guidance from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory.
The University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory built the Kepler-4 satellite and Kepler Communications provided the Kepler-4 payload.
Kepler’s first two GEN1 satellites, Kepler-4 and Kepler-5, launched in late September on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket.
Kepler booked 400 kg of rideshare capacity with SpaceX in 2019 to launch an unspecified number of cubesats.
The two Kepler satellites are the company’s first GEN1 satellites following three prototype satellites, two launched in 2018 and a third launched 2020-09-02 on a Vega dedicated rideshare mission.
The GEN1 satellites were manufactured by Kepler at a satellite production facility established at the company’s Toronto headquarters late last year.
Kepler plans to launch its next satellites in December in an even larger deployment than the 2020-09-28 launch.
Both Kepler satellites scheduled for the September launch are equipped with high-capacity Ku-band communications systems and Kepler’s internet-of-things payload prototype.
The Canadian Space Agency provided Kepler 1 million Canadian dollars to mature its bus design and production techniques.