On February 17, 2026, Kepler Communications announced the selection of Kongsberg NanoAvionics (“NanoAvionics”) as its preferred European satellite bus provider for upcoming hosted payload initiatives.
The partnership targets spacecraft with a mass of up to 500kg and focuses on integrating NanoAvionics’ platforms with The Kepler Network to provide satellite operators with real-time optical connectivity and on-orbit compute services.
Strategic Alignment and The Kepler Network
The agreement follows the successful SpaceX ‘Twilight’ mission on January 11, 2026, which deployed the first tranche of Kepler’s optical relay satellites. This partnership aims to simplify the adoption of optical communications by utilizing U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) standards for secure, interoperable data transfer. Under the terms of the deal, NanoAvionics will offer Kepler’s optical data relay and edge computing services as an optional feature within its portfolio of inter-satellite link solutions.
Technical Specifications for Optical Inter-Satellite Links
The collaboration will initially focus on the MP42 microsatellite platform before expanding to NanoAvionics’ CubeSat lines. Key performance metrics for the integrated systems include:
- Throughput: Connectivity speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps.
- Latency: Near-real-time, sub-second data transport.
- Data Volume: Capacity to handle terabytes of data per day.
- Interoperability: Full alignment with SDA optical communication terminal standards.
Executive Commentary
“NanoAvionics has earned a reputation for being one of the most reliable bus providers, helping customers with demanding mission requirements scale quickly and with confidence,” said Mina Mitry, CEO and Co-Founder of Kepler Communications. “By integrating our optical network and on-orbit compute services with NanoAvionics’ platforms, we are enabling the transformation of space from a store-and-forward model to a responsive environment.“
Atle Wøllo, CEO of NanoAvionics, added: “Through this cooperation with Kepler, we are positioning NanoAvionics at the forefront of the industry’s adoption of optical communications. This industry-wide move can provide an exponential boost for sovereign national security missions and for commercial operators serving time-sensitive data.“
Timeline for Initial Operating Capability
The partnership comes as Kepler moves toward Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for its optical network in early 2026. As the network scales to 100 Gbps-class capacity with future tranches, NanoAvionics is positioned for priority access to these higher data rates. The combined offering is designed to meet the increasing demand for high-bandwidth, low-latency communications and on-orbit edge processing, allowing operators to run artificial intelligence and machine learning models directly in space.
