Nestled between acres of notorious pine plantation and the picturesque Whiteman Park, Telstra’s Perth International Telecommunications Centre has been connecting the city to satellites whizzing past in space high above the skies for decades.

The centre's rows of white dishes look like something out of Area 51. They are all trained firmly on the sky 24/7, pinging data to satellites, but now that connection extends to some of the deepest parts of the ocean.

The remote operations centre in Perth will be controlling robots launched off Fugro vessels in WA's north west. Credit:Royal Australian Navy

On Friday Telstra and Fugro, the geo-data company that conducted the search for missing flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean, officially launched a remote operations centre at PITC.

WA's resources sector is no stranger to remote controlling machinery – miners such as Rio Tinto and Fortescue weaving it into their operations several years ago – but this is a first for Telstra and Fugro, using satellites instead of fibre to control robots in harsh environments.