After launching a toaster-size satellite into space, Mina Mitry is aiming to put 50 more up there. His goal is to create an internet infrastructure for the next frontier.
“We do not have a communications infrastructure that allows the provision of internet services in space,” say Mitry, CEO of Kepler Communications. “If we can put up an internet structure between orbit and the ground, it will enable people to build out the space economy.”
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Creating such solutions is a passion for aerospace engineers because it’s one of the few areas that can see 100 times growth, Mitry says.
For KIPP (named after the robot in the movieInterstellar), Kepler miniaturized the components in a software-programmable form factor that can be designed, produced and launched within months versus the typical three to five years. “We can go from napkin design to orbit in 12 months and rapidly refresh a satellite every few years using software-defined radio to reprogram it while it’s in orbit,” Mitry says. “Typically (hardware in space) cannot be modified.”