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Inmarsat (Public, LON:ISAT) and distribution partner Stratos are sponsoring the 20-metre (60ft)Plastiki, the brainchild of adventurer and ecologist David de Rothschild, who has spent three years putting the project together.

 

 

During the three-month expedition, a Thrane & Thrane Sailor FleetBroadband 500 terminal, supplied by solutions provider Satcom, will send store-and-forward video from the boat back to the project website and to the world’s media, including weekly updates  broadcast on CNN and a documentary  in late 2010 from National Geographic Channel.

David and his five-man crew will also be able to conduct interviews and keep in touch with followers via blogs, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. The expedition set sail on 20 March.

 

 

During its epic ocean voyage, the Plastiki will sail through some of our ocean’s most remote and fragile ecosystems, witnessing and sharing the overwhelming effects of global warming and waste on ecosystems and our planet’s inhabitants.

As well as re-using 12,500 plastic bottles in its design, the Plastiki has harnessed innovative developments in plastics, such as self-reinforcing PET (srPET), a 100 per cent recyclable material woven from plastic fibres that forms the vessel’s frame.

 

David de Rothschild, whose Adventure Ecology organisation highlights environmental issues, said: “Ninety per cent of ocean debris is plastic, so it’s fitting that the expedition focuses on it.

 

“We’re helping shift momentum towards development of smarter materials that are fully up-cyclable (transforming products into something of greater use than they were originally).

 

“The legacy of the Plastiki will be its capacity to shift public thinking and perception from plastics as the enemy to how plastic can become part of the solution.”

 

 

Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat’s chairman and chief executive, said, “Initiatives like Plastiki are effective at heightening the public’s awareness of some important environmental issues.

 

“We support the International Maritime Organisation and the international conventions that aim to prevent pollution of the maritime environment, and we are delighted that, via Inmarsat’s global network, we can help Plastiki spread the message to new audiences around the world.

 

“Our FleetBroadband service will provide video for CNN’s weekly focus on Plastiki, and will enable the crew to share their thoughts via blogs, tweets and photos.  As David so rightly says, the impact of our waste is undeniable, and we are pleased to play our part in effecting change.”

 

 

 

David de Rothschild is a British adventureer, environmentalist and head of Adventure Ecology, an expedition group raising awareness about climate change. David was born on the 25^th August 1978 in London, England and he is the youngest of three children of Victoria Schott and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild of the Rothschild banking family of England. His middle Mayer name was taken from the name of the founder of the Rothschild family banking empire, Mayer Amschel Rothschild.

 

After leaving Collingham College in 1996 he studied Political Science and Information Systems at Oxford Brookes. In 2002 David studied at the College of Naturopathic Medicine, London, where he received an advanced Diploma in Natural Medicine.

 

 

Inmarsat was founded in 1979 to ensure that ships could stay in constant touch by telephone. In 1999, the company became the first intergovernmental organisation to transform into a private company and, in 2005, was floated on the London Stock Exchange.

 

Inmarsat has stood at the forefront of mobile satellite services for 30 years and is internationally recognised as pioneers in their field, introducing new technologies that redefine the standard for the industry.

 

Inmarsat new Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service, for example, is now enabling TV broadcasters to beam breaking news 'live via videophone' into millions of homes.

 

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