Fregata Space to Apply Satellite Technology to Prevent 8 Million Tons of Plastics from Ending up in the Oceans Each Year

• The company has developed a solution to save the more than 33,000 dollars per ton that cleaning our seas represents today.
• Using satellite images and Machine Learning technologies, it detects the volume of waste, manages its removal and subsequent auction.

LISBON (Fregata Space PR) — Fregata Space, the company owned by Sateliot and that transforms satellite images into high-resolution information and high predictive value , uses the New Space ecosystem, as well as its own Big Data and Machine Learning technologies to prevent more 8 million tons of plastics end up in the oceans each year .

The applications of New Space technology in the field of marine biodiversity is precisely one of the central issues discussed this Friday at the III New Space Atlantic Summit with the aim of contributing from the space industry to the preservation and management of our resources especially considering that, if this international crisis is not answered, by 2050 there will be more garbage than fish in the oceans.

It is estimated that micro and macroplastics produce between 60 and 80% of marine litter. Thus, taking into account that plastic reaches the oceans from lakes, rivers and coastal areas, Fregata Space has designed a solution that, based on satellite images, monitors the coasts and river mouths to capture this waste before it reach the open sea.

From there, an IoT sensor system detects the volume of waste and the different cleaning points and, through a mobile application, automatically organizes the collection and recycling of plastics, which are auctioned in real time between local companies of waste management to give them a second life.

In this way, Fregata contributes to save the more than 33,000 dollars per ton (more than 28,000 euros approximately) that its cleaning represents today, generating a circular economy -and local microeconomies in the areas where it operates- to fight against pollution of the oceans from their very origin: coastal areas.

To make it possible, it uses satellite remote sensing – from the images collected by the European satellites Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 and other satellites, as well as the databases of the Earth observation programs Copernicus and Galileo, such as main monitoring technique. This data is subsequently analyzed, processed and converted into practical and useful information through advanced and patented Machine Learning techniques.

Checking its effectiveness in the Dominican Republic

Fregata Space already has several pilot projects underway to test the effectiveness of this local microeconomy with a holistic approach in cities such as La Romana, in the Dominican Republic. The company, in collaboration with the Proactiva Foundation, is implementing this technology to limit the prevailing waste management problem in this area. Thus, it monitors the volume of plastics from space, manages their removal and offers them a second useful life, also using local labor.

According to María Fernanda González, founder and CEO of Fregata Space “space has ceased to be a place reserved only for a few, hence the need to adequately take advantage of the assets it offers -such as ground observation- to solve environmental problems. planet like the one posed by the excessive amount of plastic waste that ends up in the oceans ”.

About Fregata Space

Fregata Space is a company specializing in techniques and proprietary technologies for Optimization, Big Data and Machine Learning, which transforms satellite images into information of high predictive value, optimizing business management by providing all the necessary data to solve real-world problems and improve people’s quality of life. Fregata is owned and is a complement to the services of Sateliot, the first satellite operator that will provide global and continuous connectivity to all the elements that will make up the universe of the Internet of Things (IoT). More information at www.fregataspace.com