WASHINGTON —
Kepler Communications, a Canadian startup designing a
network of 140 telecom cubesats, has teamed up with the Satellite
Applications Catapult in the U.K. to build a third and final prototype
before pressing on with the full constellation.
The Harwell, Oxfordshire-based
Catapult will partially fund the satellite, and help Kepler establish
roots in the U.K., where the company intends to place its first office
outside of Canada.
Kepler plans to launch the prototype
satellite during the summer of 2019, preceding the launch of the larger
constellation later that year.
Jeffrey Osborne, Kepler’s vice president of business development, told SpaceNews that the prototype, named TARS after a robot in the movie Interstellar, will be very different from Kepler’s first two demo satellites.
To date Kepler has provided “store
and forward” services with KIPP, a satellite launched to low-Earth orbit
in January on a Chinese Long March 11 rocket. That satellite collects
data, holds it in space and then dumps it when passing over designated
very small aperture terminals. Kepler’s second demo satellite, CASE,
will perform the same function after it launches this summer (Osborne
declined to name the launch provider).
TARS will be the first satellite to
include a narrowband communications payload to carry small amounts of
data from numerous Internet of Things devices, Osborne said. In prepping
the narrowband service, Kepler realized it needed to do “a substantial
amount of technology development,” he said.
“In order to sell to this market, you
need to provide effectively a cellular-like solution in terms of power,
price, performance, size, etc.,” he said. “It needs to be as close to
cellular as possible.”
Osborne said Kepler’s Internet of
Things focus is on devices that move around frequently and as a result
have difficulty staying connected because of differences in cellular
standards around the world. Instead of configuring those devices to work
with multiple cellular networks, customers can use Kepler’s satellite
system to stay connected regardless of location.
Neither Osborne nor the Catapult would disclose how much funding the Catapult is putting towards the TARS mission.
“The collaboration involves
contributions from both sides,” said Christopher Brunskill, the
Catapult’s head of small satellites and future constellations.
“[Kepler] will be working with U.K.
suppliers for the spacecraft platform, and we are working directly with
them on their business development activities to help them establish
their U.K. base and then their operations into Europe,” he said.
The Satellite Applications Catapult
procures spacecraft and launch slots for participants in its In-Orbit
Demonstration (IOD) mission series, with the requirement that
beneficiaries of the program show a tangible return for the U.K. space
sector. Two government agencies, Innovate U.K. and the U.K. Space
Agency, provide funding for the Catapult’s IOD program.
“We are trying to join the dots
between the new ‘Planets’ or the new ‘Spires,’” said Florian Deconinck,
small satellites program manager at the Satellite Applications Catapult.
Companies like Kepler “are trying to
effectively de-risk their service by launching prototype satellites,” he
said, and the Catapult seeks to make that feasible while drawing
companies to the U.K.
Clyde Space, the same company that
has provided the spacecraft platform for Kepler’s first two prototypes,
is one of the suppliers for the Catapult’s IOD program, along with, more
recently, Open Cosmos of Harwell.
Osborne said Kepler builds its
payloads in-house, and will likely continue that arrangement for future
satellites. The company has not selected a spacecraft platform supplier
for the TARS satellite, he said.
Osborne said Kepler consists of
around 20 people today. The company has not yet determined how big its
U.K. office will be, he said.