Kepler Communications’ technology will soon play a leading role in the European Space Agency’s mission to enable real-time space communications.
Kepler is the first Canadian company chosen as a prime contractor on an ESA project.
The Toronto spacetech company was awarded 18.6 million euros ($30 million CAD) to be the prime contractor for the European Space Agency’s HydRON Element 3, a project to speed up and facilitate space communications, in an announcement Tuesday at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The High thRoughput Optical Network (HydRON) project aims to build a high-speed data network in space. The contract builds on Kepler’s previous work on HydRON Element 1, where it led the development of this optical laser network under a 36-million euro contract supported by TESAT Spacecom and Airbus Space and Defence. Under this new contract, Kepler’s role will grow from architecture into in-orbit demonstration and operations.
In a news release, Kepler co-founder and CEO Mina Mitry called HydRON a “key initiative in advancing sovereign optical communications and enabling high-capacity data transport.”
Kepler will launch a satellite to host communications tech from different providers, and the mission will test their interoperability and effectiveness. Some of the hardware and payloads come from Germany’s Tesat-Spacecom and Lithuania’s Astrolight UAB. Crystalyn Koch, a strategic communications manager at Kepler, told BetaKit in an email that theirs is the first Canadian company chosen as a prime contractor on an ESA project.
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Koch added that the Canadian Space Agency is supporting Canada’s participation in the HydRON program. Canada has a unique agreement with the ESA as the only non-European state cooperator, allowing Canadian companies to bid on ESA contracts.
In January, Kepler launched a low-earth orbit system of 10 satellites—the world’s first based on an optical relay network. Dubbed the “Twilight Mission,” the satellites effectively work as orbital data centres, processing and analyzing information in space. The Canadian company beat out similar projects from industry leaders like Amazon and Starlink.
Founded in 2015 by University of Toronto graduate students, Kepler designs, builds, and operates its satellites from its headquarters in Toronto. Its goal is to build a network of low-cost satellites to improve real-time communication infrastructure in space. The nearly 200-person company has raised more than $200 million in equity and is one of the largest satellite operators in Canada.
Feature image courtesy Kepler Communications.