The MARIOT partnership will develop a satellite-based maritime IoT network and demonstrate selected maritime/Arctic services using our own MARIOT-1 satellite with the help of Innovation Fund Denmark Grant Solutions programme.

Maritime authorities and the global maritime industry have identified a range of needs for safety and navigational services in the form of the e-Navigation strategy anchored under United Nations/IMO. The VDES standard, an extension to the popular AIS technology, has been specified as the new communications channel for e-Navigation. These will form the starting point of the MARIOT project.

The project is a collaboration between six innovative partners (presented below), and it is partially funded by Innovation Fund Denmark.

In the News: Online media coverage of the project can be found here.

The MARIOT partners:

Sternula is the project leader of MARIOT and will become Denmark’s first commercial satellite operator through its participation in MARIOT. The company is building a global VDES (VDE-SAT) satellite constellation for maritime safety and navigational services. This satellite constellation will be operational from 2022.

  • Contact Sternula: Stefan Pielmeier, CTO and MARIOT Project Manager, +45 3116 3910

Aalborg University (AAU) is known for its problem-based research and learning methods. According to MIT rankings, AAU is World’s 4th and the European leader in engineering. The AAU space research unit involved in MARIOT has previously launched and operated 5 satellites.

  • Contact AAU: Jens Dalsgaard Nielsen, Associate Professor, +45 2872 8753

Danmark Meteorologiske Institut (DMI) is the Danish governmental weather services organization offering its services to the public and businesses in Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland. In the MARIOT project, DMI will be developing ice services for provisioning over VDES.

  • Contact DMI: Till Soya Rasmussen, Data Scientist, +45 3915 7317

GateHouse is specialized in software solutions for optimizations, flexibility, and mission critical operations within tracking, monitoring, and satellite communication. Within scope of the MARIOT project, GateHouse will develop a VDES satellite backhaul solution.

  • Contact GateHouse: Per Koch, Business Development, +45 4061 5005

Satlab is a provider of state-of-the-art Software-Defined Radio (SDR) subsystems for micro- and nano-satellites along with more traditional hardware-based transceivers for Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C). Satlab will develop a new VDES satellite radio module in the MARIOT project.

  • Contact Satlab: Jesper Abildgaard Larsen, Project Manager, +45 5170 0417

Space Inventor is a satellite engineering company and a New Space pioneer. Space Inventor defines, designs, builds, and tests a range of avionics products based on the most stringent reliability requirements in the industry. Space Inventor is responsible for the overall satellite platform in MARIOT.

  • Contact Space Inventor: Karl Kaas, CEO, +45 3120 8210