A satellite system, that fits in a small box, is making millions of machines around the world obsolete.

When you consider the tiny amount of physical hardware that actually makes up the Swarm array (it’d all fit in one large carton) and compare it to the inestimable contribution Swarm will make to protecting the global environment, it’s an understatement to say its a remarkable engineering achievement.

ioSphere is engaged with hundreds of organizations exploring replacement of their ‘manual’ methods of data collection with a Swarm solution. By ‘manual’ I mean they currently send a person out, in some expensive vehicle, to get the data required for their business.

These are lines companies flying technicians out in helicopters to measure line voltages, environmental agencies sending scientists out in trucks to measure river levels, and mussel farmers ploughing through oceans in powerboats to check their navigation lights.

Thanks to Swarm’s global, and phenomenally low data cost, all that information will soon be gathered automatically and sent through space to the decision makers who need it.

Swarm is going to make a lot of expensive machines, and of course all the fossil fuel they consume, obsolete. Their job can now be done better by 160 cheese sandwich sized satellites that could, if all stacked together, fit comfortably inside a single large carton.

I challenge you to think of any technology with the potential to deliver such a positive global outcome with so little physical hardware.