Successful launch for Kepler Communications and NASA exoplanet mission

Kepler Communications launched 10 Canadian-built satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight that also carried NASA’s Pandora exoplanet telescope; deployment of all payloads was confirmed about 2½ hours after liftoff.

Toronto-based Kepler Communications sent 10 satellites into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Sunday, making it the operator of the largest fleet of Canadian-built spacecraft to date. The flight carried 47 payloads in total and included NASA’s Pandora, an observatory designed to study exoplanet atmospheres. The mission was timed to pass along the day–night terminator so satellites would have steady sunlight for power and consistent lighting for observations. Kepler’s spacecraft use laser-based links and onboard processing to move data between satellites and to ground stations. Key details: - Kepler launched 10 satellites, each around 300 kilograms and roughly the size of a large desk, as part of a 47-payload SpaceX mission. - Liftoff was from Vandenberg Space Force Base; deployment of all payloads occurred over about 2½ hours with the final release confirmed at 8:19 a.m., and the Falcon 9 first stage returned to the launch site. - The mission’s dawn timing, nicknamed Twilight, places satellites near the day–night line to give them continuous sunlight for their solar arrays. - Kepler’s satellites rely on optical (laser) communications between spacecraft and with ground stations, and carry onboard computing for faster data processing and real-time awareness. - The article notes an example application: Kepler satellites can host thermal imagers and use AI processing to detect and monitor wildfires, with continuous coverage through inter-satellite links. - NASA’s Pandora is an orbiting telescope to study the atmospheres of planets around other stars; it will be operated from a new control centre at the University of Arizona in Phoenix and is expected to undergo about a month of on-orbit checks before data analysis begins for roughly 20 initial targets. Summary: The launch reinforces Kepler’s growing role in commercial Earth-observation and space-based data services and demonstrates optical inter-satellite communications and in-orbit processing. Pandora will enter a commissioning period of about a month from its new control centre, after which participating astronomers will begin examining observations of about 20 target planets. Operational timelines for Kepler’s new satellites beyond deployment were not detailed in the article.