System 001 has launched into the Pacific

After 5 years of research, engineering and testing, we launched the world’s first ocean cleanup system from San Francisco Bay, marking the start of the cleanup. The system is now on its way to an intermediary test stop, 250-350 nautical miles offshore for a 2-week trial before continuing its journey toward the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1,200 nautical miles offshore, to start the cleanup.

The journey of the tow through the bay was livestreamed from 12 pm PT until the system had left the bay, crossed Golden Gate Bridge and sailed off onto the Pacific Ocean.

It will take 3-5 days to complete the transfer to the Pacific Trials testing area, where System 001 will be installed in its operational u-shape configuration for the first time. The system’s behavior will be extensively monitored during this final test, which is expected to last around two weeks.  After the trials have concluded, System 001 will be towed the remaining ~1000 nautical miles to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This will be a long journey, as the average tow speed is 2-4 knots. We expect that the trip to the patch will take approximately two to three more weeks. Once it arrives, the cleanup will commence.

“I am incredibly grateful for the tremendous amount of support we have received over the past few years from people around the world, that has allowed us to develop, test, and launch a system with the potential to begin to mitigate this ecological disaster. This makes me confident that, if we manage to make the technology work, the cleanup will happen.”, says Boyan Slat, CEO and founder.

See where System 001, “Wilson”, is right now on our dedicated System 001 page.