Kepler Planning Laser Link Satellite Network

Kepler Communications, with eight non-geostationary orbit satellites in space, is asking FCC approval to launch another 10 with optical intersatellite links and create a consolidated space data relay network. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday to modify its U.S. market access grant and another pending U.S. market access application, Kepler said the FCC's five-year deorbit rule, adopted in 2022, necessitated the company rethinking its previously authorized cubesat system as they wouldn't deorbit within five years of the end of their missions. The company said the steeply escalating licensing fees for systems seeking U.S. market access also made its original plans for a second, separate satellite system not feasible. As a result, it needed to consider one consolidated system. Kepler said the launch of 10 second-generation satellites is expected in Q3 2025.