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New Better Satellite World Video from SSPI Explores How the Ocean's Waves May Power the Future

(December 13, 2022 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today released Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy, its newest video in the Better Satellite World campaign. It tells the story of how Oregon State University creating testing platforms to learn how to use ocean waves as a renewable energy resource, aided by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and data on ocean movements from satellite tracking technology. Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy is made possible by funding from Globalstar.

Scientists estimate that waves washing up on America’s coastline contain enough to meet the power needs of two-thirds of its homes and businesses. But capturing it from the sea is hard, because salt water corrodes metal. The up-and-down, back-and-forth motion of waves breaks moving parts. Stormy seas can wreck any but the strongest structures.

To speed progress, Oregon State University used funding from the US Energy Department to build two unique testing platforms for wave and tidal energy systems. Called PacWave, they provide test beds connected by undersea cables to the onshore electrical grid. Testing such systems required accurate, hourly data on the ocean’s movements, temperature, wave patterns and more. Oregon State University turned to buoys equipped with temperature and motion sensors, as well as Globalstar’s SmartOne Solar devices – small, rugged satellite transmitters that are charged by sunlight and can operate for up to 10 years – to collect and deliver the necessary data through the company’s online SPOT My Globalstar system.

“Satellite has become integral to doing science across an enormous range of disciplines,” said executive director Robert Bell. “When that scientific investigation has the potential to generate clean power and help achieve climate goals, it is something for our industry to celebrate. Building awareness of the immense reach and impact of satellite technology on the world supports the success of every organization working in space and satellite.”

Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy debuted at the 2022 Better Satellite World Awards Dinner in London on December 5. You can watch the video on SSPI’s website and on Youtube.


About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. SSPI helps the industry attract, develop and retain the talented people it needs to keep the engine turning. People who connect through high-profile events and gain recognition from prestigious awards. People who rely on SSPI for a broader understanding of the industry as much as for individual networking and career mentoring. From young people seeking a career path to industry veterans with wisdom to share, SSPI connects them all.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies making a better world. Those stories overturn misconceptions about the industry that hold it back. They inspire our people and attract new ones to the industry. They help justify investment and give new customers a reason to care about our services and products. Through the stories we tell and the people we serve, SSPI inspires the growth of the $1 trillion space economy of the future.


For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org


 December 13, 2022