The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Remote detection and mapping of floating marine plastic litter from space needs to operate in synergy with clean up actions. This means that an observation system is needed combining high revisit time and high spatial resolution, but currently there is no single remote sensing technology that is sufficient. In this project, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) explored combining small drones with AI to complement observations from satellites and High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellites. Find out more here.
The project was funded through the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities. It was selected through an Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) call for ideas on remote sensing of plastic marine litter.
Access the other Final presentations of ESA Discovery element activities videos.