The objective of the MARLISAT project was to further develop marine plastic monitoring through the use of multiple satellite technologies. In effect, the intention was to use satellite technology to detect marine litter, track it and forecast its pathways.

Four satellite technologies were combined:

In the ocean, transport and mixing processes tend to disperse matter in suspension over wide spatial (~100 km) and long temporal (~month) scales. Fronts appear at the boundary between water masses with different properties and are caused by diverse oceanic features and processes, including bottom topography. Frontal structures include tidal mixing fronts, shelf-break fronts, upwelling fronts, estuarine fronts, plume fronts, fronts generated by convergence or divergence of water masses, and frontal eddies (Acha et al. 2015; Largier 1993).

The D2OPS activity started with the goal of applying MBSE practices to enable digital continuity between design and operations. This study involves the following main activities:

In order to enable lunar exploration in a sustainable manner, it is necessary to develop technologies that allow the use of lunar resources in-situ. Additive manufacturing techniques are being studied for in-situ resources utilization on the Moon (e.g.: solar or laser sintering). The results of these studies, presented samples with low mechanical properties due to the formation of defects and cracks within the final product.

Development of instruments and algorithms for remote sensing of plastics need standardised global in-situ observations. Compared to aquatic environments, dry shores are more accessible to frequent in situ observations. As part of the HyperDrone project, funded by the Discovery Element of the European Space Agency’s Basic Activities, we aimed to develop a standardised indicator for in-situ radiometric detection of plastic debris with the view to be deployed globally on different platforms.

This project is conceived at analysing a secured communication link between a space-based system and a maritime system. The final goal is to serve autonomous navigation vessels, with a possible extension to other smart commercial maritime services and to favour the process towards a highly and full digitalisation of the Port system. The autonomous ship is here considered from an operating point of view, although quite simple and with the purpose of understanding the impact on the telecommunication system. The initial focus is on three possible telecommunication solutions:

Currently GNSS Systems provide services for instantaneous absolute positioning accuracy of a few meters, assuming no local obstructions above 5-10 degrees elevation, based on the navigation signals broadcast by a MEO constellation.

During the project activities, the authors proposed a conceptual framework, which utilizes resources available in situ through the chemical and physical processes associated with agriculture; the soil and CO2 (if present) are transformed into fibrous plant matter, harvested and finally converted into mechanical and structural components.

The overall goal of the TRACE project was to build a remote sensing based fully automated system for the detection and tracking of large marine litter and accumulation patches of smaller litter items in order to obtain precise and reliable data on floating macro-litter regarding their quantity, position, accumulation zones, material properties, floating depth, and sources. The tracking mechanism has been implemented by coupling the daily satellite-based detections with an oceanographic forecasting system and by a two-step object matching approach.