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During its prime mission, Kepler discovered more than 2,300 confirmed exoplanets and many candidate exoplanets.
AAC Clyde built Kepler’s first two prototype satellites: KIPP, which launched aboard a Chinese Long March 11 in January, and CASE, which is scheduled to launch later 2018 on an unspecified rocket.
Kepler plans to operate 140 satellites in low Earth orbit to provide Internet of Things connectivity to ground devices and to act as a relay network for other satellites using intersatellite links.
AAC Clyde is under contract to build a third and final demo satellite for Kepler named TARS, slated to launch in mid-2019.
Kepler intends its Gen-1 constellation to be in service by late 2020 or early 2021, a second generation of up to 50 satellites by the end of 2021, and the full 140-satellite constellation operational by the end of 2022.
Kepler requires launches for its Gen-1 constellation to occur by the third quarter of 2020.
Kepler’s satellites will operate from altitudes between 520 and 600 km and will have a design life of three to five years.
Kepler was launched by NASA in March 2009 to search for planets around other stars by detecting periodic dips in stellar brightness caused by planetary transits.
Kepler has been operating under the extended K2 mission since 2014, observing different parts of the sky for about 80 days per campaign.
Kepler plans to complete a 140-spacecraft constellation in 2022.
TARS is the final prototype Kepler plans to launch before sending ten GEN1 satellites into orbit in 2020.
The United Kingdom’s Satellite Applications Catapult is helping Kepler fund the TARS mission and establish an office in the United Kingdom.
TARS will carry a full suite of upgraded communications and processing units developed by Kepler.
Kepler plans to launch 50 GEN2 satellites in 2021.
The Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell, Oxfordshire will partially fund the third Kepler prototype and assist Kepler in establishing its first office outside of Canada in the United Kingdom.
Kepler’s second demo satellite, CASE, will perform store-and-forward services after it launches in the summer of 2019.
Kepler’s KIPP satellite was launched to low-Earth orbit in January on a Chinese Long March 11 rocket to provide store-and-forward services.
Kepler Communications plans to launch the third prototype satellite during the summer of 2019, preceding the launch of the larger constellation later in 2019.
Kepler Communications has partnered with the Satellite Applications Catapult in the United Kingdom to build a third prototype satellite before deploying a full constellation.
The Satellite Applications Catapult will work with U.K. suppliers for the Kepler spacecraft platform and will support Kepler’s business development to establish a U.K. base and operations into Europe.