Partnership increases space industry manufacturing in SA

Adelaide-based Myriota, a provider of nanosatellite IoT connectivity, has entered into a partnership deal with global manufacturer Motherson to produce its Myriota Module; a low-powered device that securely transfers data to the Myriota Network of satellites from anywhere on the planet.

Production is well underway, with Motherson already manufacturing tens of thousands of Myriota Modules. The units are being manufactured at Motherson’s South Australian design and manufacturing facility, and subsequently delivered across the globe. Myriota’s growing list of partners and customers include Optus, Amazon’s AWS and Boeing. It is the first partnership that Motherson has entered into with a space or IoT business within Australia, enabling Motherson to expand its business into these industries.

Dr David Haley, Myriota co-founder and CTO, said the collaboration shows that it’s possible to keep design and manufacturing within South Australia.

“Myriota and Motherson are examples of two South Australian businesses excelling in their respective industries,” he said. “Our partnership demonstrates that manufacturing capabilities in South Australia — which once primarily served the automotive industry — have diversified into new sectors, including Australia’s growing space sector.”

Sam Vial, Motherson Business Development Director for Asia Pacific, said the partnership is an important step in diversifying its business.

“We’re thrilled to become Myriota’s manufacturing partner and expand our operations to include the space and IoT sectors. This partnership will help to sustain jobs in our South Australian facility, with products being both designed and manufactured locally.”

Motherson will be manufacturing millions of units of the Myriota Module in South Australia over the next five years. Built on an edge computing platform, the Myriota Module allows for third-party integration with a huge range of sensors and devices. These devices communicate directly with Myriota’s nanosatellites to provide sensor data updates on valuable resources to a wide range of businesses.

One of the first customers to benefit from the partnership is Zepiro. The Brisbane-based business recently purchased their first order of Myriota Modules for use by clients in the mining sector, and their COO, Damien Cox, said that they’re very excited about the potential.

“The Myriota Module provides a great market opportunity for our business in industries like mining and agriculture where long-endurance remote resource monitoring is vital,” he said. “The low-cost and robust nature of this technology allows us to economically retrieve critical telemetry from difficult-to-access locations.”