GALWAY, Ireland & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MBRYONICS has been expanding its partner and customer ecosystem and has recently been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for in-orbit demonstration activities in a team led by Kepler Communications. The €18.6M award is under Element 3 of the High-throughput Optical Network (HydRON) program, a project under ESA’s Optical and Quantum Communications – ScyLight program, within the agency’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES).

Mbryonics has been tapped for the final leg of an ESA space communication project. Galway space-tech Mbryonics is building out a second manufacturing facility in Shannon to keep up with a growing demand for its services. The new 40,000 sq ft facility called Photon-2 will produce thousands of optical terminals by 2027, the company said. Mbryonics specialises in tools for space-based communication, having risen to become one of Ireland’s most notable space-techs in the 12 years since its founding.

MBRYONICS has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for in-orbit demonstration activities by a team led by Kepler Communications, under Element 3 of the High-throughput Optical Network (HydRON) program. HydRON is a project under ESA’s Optical and Quantum Communications – ScyLight program, within the Agency’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES).

ARLINGTON, Va. — When 21 Lockheed Martin satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 1 launched Oct. 15, each carried three laser communication terminals instead of the planned four, reflecting a shortfall in the supply of optical crosslink hardware.

The satellites rely on optical communications terminals, or OCTs, to exchange data via laser links, forming the mesh network at the core of SDA’s architecture. With fewer terminals on board, the spacecraft can still operate but with reduced crosslink capacity and less flexibility in routing data across the constellation.

The gap reflects a broader supply issue. For this plane of satellites, Tesat-Spacecom delivered 42 terminals, while CACI provided only 21.

SDA acting director Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo acknowledged the constraint, describing optical terminals as an ongoing bottleneck in the agency’s push to deploy a large constellation.

“From an optical communications terminal perspective, we’re not there yet on how many we need,” Sandhoo said April 1 at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Security Forum. “The throughput is not there yet.”

“We did launch one plane with three OCTs. They were supposed to have four, but we can do four in the next one,” Sandhoo said.

The supply challenge persists despite the agency placing orders for Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites more than four years ago, highlighting the difficulty of scaling production of a component that has historically been built in small numbers.

Optical terminals combine precision optics, fine-pointing mechanisms and high-reliability electronics, all of which must be space-qualified. They also must meet strict interoperability requirements so terminals from different vendors can link with one another.

SDA has also found that testing takes longer than expected. The agency partnered with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in 2020 to develop a hardware- and software-in-the-loop testbed. That effort evolved into a dedicated optical communications test environment, with NRL running interoperability tests since 2023.

Early Tranche 0 terminals were evaluated for waveform compatibility but not full pointing, acquisition and tracking, the precise functions required to maintain laser links between fast-moving satellites. More comprehensive testing was introduced for Tranche 1, adding further time to the qualification process.

For decades, satellites have been beaming data from Earth to space and back via radio waves. But with the growing number of spacecraft in orbit and the increasing quantities of data beaming back to Earth, radio spectrum is hitting its physical limits. For about a decade, companies and research institutions have been working on higher-bandwidth, optical technologies that would remove current data transmission bottlenecks. Perhaps the most ambitious among those companies is Singapore-based deep-tech start-up Transcelestial, which has been testing its commercial-grade Earth-to-space laser communication terminal in trials in space in the past few weeks.

The company, which has sold hundreds of ground-to-ground internet-beaming laser terminals, launched its demonstration payload to space in November aboard the 6GStarLab satellite developed by UK-headquartered Open Cosmos, and has further satellite launches scheduled for later this year. The satellites, Transcelestial says, will form the backbone of a future constellation that will provide fiber-grade level connectivity from orbit to the world’s unconnected by the end of this decade.

Other companies have been using laser terminals to beam data between satellites. SpaceX Starlink has been relying on space-to-space laser terminals since 2021, forming an orbital mesh network that can route vast amounts of data through space in real time without needing a ground station. The constellation, however, still requires conventional radio waves to beam connectivity to users on Earth, meaning there is only so much data that can pass through the overall network at any given moment.

But using lasers to beam data to Earth comes with challenges that so far have been difficult to solve. Transcelestial and other companies, however, believe they’ve finally cracked the problem.

“Today I joined MBRYONICS, a leader in optical communications in Ireland, where I witnessed how advanced photonics technologies are moving from innovation to industrial scale – particularly through the team’s Photon-1 facility, which builds on decades of collaboration with ESA and Ireland’s ESA delegation.

Combining the design, manufacturing, and testing of hundreds of advanced optical communication terminals in a year, it’s a major step towards deploying secure, high-capacity networks for future satellite constellations, including ESA’s HydRON and EU programme, IRIS².

With plans to ramp up production ten-fold in their new facility, Photon-2, MBRYONICS is a powerful example of how Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem is turning cutting-edge innovation into scalable space infrastructure.

A pleasure to exchange on their achievements and what comes next in our partnership.”

Original article

The Local Enterprise Office (LEO ) Galway and Network Ireland Galway will collaborate to host an inspiring and energising celebration of Galway businesswomen in the Salthill Hotel on Friday, March 6th. The event, taking place to mark International Women’s Day, will form part of LEO Galway’s schedule of events for this year’s Local Enterprise Week (LEW ).

Entitled Women Empowering Women, the celebration will begin at 9.30am on March 6, and will feature Ruth Mackey, Co-founder, Chief Science Officer, and COO of MBRYONICS Ltd, as the guest speaker.

Ruth’s expertise spans system-level oversight of optics development, alongside financial management and business operations. She will take the audience on an inspiring journey from her early work in advanced adaptive optics to her role at MBRYONICS. At MBRYONICS, the team is building the internet in space through next?generation laser communication technologies that connect satellites with unprecedented speed and precision.

Ireland’s first European Space Agency Phi-Lab will be headquartered at Irish Manufacturing Research in Mullingar, Co Westmeath. The six-year pioneering programme is designed to drive innovation in space technologies within companies in Ireland. Phi-Lab Ireland will fund cutting-edge research from materials discovery and testing, to the scaled production of components optimised for the unique and challenging environment of space. The new facility will be run in collaboration with the AMBER Centre at Trinity College Dublin.

It is hoped the establishment of this new hub will boost Ireland and Europe’s competitiveness, sovereignty, and leadership in the global space economy.

MBRYONICS, a Galway-based leader in photonic satellite optical communication networks, has opened its new Photon-1 volume manufacturing facility in Dangan and announced the creation of 125 new jobs over the next two years in Galway. MBRYONICS currently has a headcount of 100 employees and these new roles will be in the areas of production, engineering, sales and marketing support. This represents a major step forward in its mission to deliver the “internet in space” and strengthen Ireland’s role in the global space economy.

Founded in 2014, MBRYONICS has built a reputation for pushing the boundaries of satellite optical and photonic transport systems, working with clients in the public and private sectors.

The Photon-1 launch builds on more than a decade of collaboration between MBRYONICS, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Ireland’s ESA Delegation. This sustained partnership has been instrumental at every stage of the company’s journey – from early research and technology funding development to scaling internationally – culminating in the company’s creation of the first volume manufacturing facility for advanced satellite optical communications technologies in Galway.

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD, said: “MBRYONICS’ Photon-1 facility is a landmark for Ireland’s space sector and a direct outcome of more than a decade of close collaboration between the company, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Ireland’s ESA Delegation. This is another great example of how partnering with ESA has enabled the development of world-leading technology here in Ireland that is now ready for large-scale production and global deployment. It demonstrates how Ireland’s membership of ESA not only drives innovation but also creates high-value jobs, boosts exports, and positions our country at the forefront of the fast-growing global space economy. We look forward to continuing these important partnerships between industry in Ireland and ESA.”

A growing group of innovative companies, from multinationals to startups, are propelling Ireland’s advance into a previously uncharted market: space

Since the beginning of the last decade, Irish companies’ involvement in the space sector has risen by more than 300%. This rapid ascent was achieved from a solid launchpad: Ireland draws upon a 40-year history in semiconductors, telecommunications, and advanced materials. Many founders and leaders of start-ups and technology firms working in the space sector gained valuable experience in those industries. 

There are more opportunities than ever to become involved in this industry. A report from KPMG has forecast the growing commercial space sector to expand from €348 billion in 2020 to €1 trillion by 2040, driven by factors including increased private investment and falling spaceflight costs. 

The technology to gather and analyse data from satellites in low Earth orbit and analyse it has become more mainstream, leading to a wide range of downstream applications including secure communications, AI-driven Earth observation, analysing supply chains by tracking cargo ships from space, producing highly accurate meteorological and ocean data, or observing crop yields.

“In 2010, there were around 30 space-active companies in Ireland. Today, that number has grown to 116. It’s a significant expansion, across both multinationals and SMEs, and companies like Ubotica and Innalabs are now recognised leaders in their fields,” says Conor Sheehan, deputy head of Ireland’s delegation to the European Space Agency (ESA).

Ireland’s long standing reputation for attracting multinational companies has led to groups based here becoming active in the space sector.

Viasat, which has had a European software centre of excellence in Dublin since 2018, has projects in satellite broadband connectivity and partnerships with several EU groups. The international aerospace and defence group Nammo’s Irish operation supplied rocket components to the Ariane 5 and 6 launches.

Analog Devices, whose operation in Limerick dates back to the 1970s, is Ireland’s participant in a European-wide project in microelectronics and communication technologies intended to advance innovation throughout the EU.

This both showcases Ireland’s capability in the semiconductor industry, which the Irish Government has designated as a strategic area, and opens up potential applications in the space sector, where chips are a critical component.