Making Cell Phone Towers In Space A Reality

- Madhumita Prabhakar

Each of the four founders of Kepler Communications; Jeffrey Osborne, Mark Micheal, Mina Mitry and Wen Cheng Chong, has more than just passion, in common, for building technology for space communications. The University of Toronto graduates have worked together on several projects before deciding to found their own company. Naturally, that also turned out to be one of the primary reasons behind turning entrepreneurs. “We had a phenomenal founding team and we enjoyed working together. We realized that as a team we could literally solve any problem we wanted to,” admits Osborne, Kepler’s co-founder and VP of Strategy and Business Development.

But, what does Kepler really do? And, what makes them unique? In simple words, Kepler is building cellphone towers in space for satellite-to-satellite communications; meaning, enabling connectivity infrastructure (Internet for space) for in-space communications, say connecting rockets and space stations, and enabling them to relay information back to Earth. “We realized that this satellite platform that we are leveraging is really enabling the democratization of access to space, allowing small companies and even individuals the opportunity to build things that can go to space and solve problems. This low cost nanosatellite platform that we’re using was very much an anchor for starting this company,” explains Osborne.