Marble Awarded Groundbreaking Contract for Marine Ecosystem Monitoring

Chippenham, UK - Marble Aerospace Limited, a pioneer in advanced drone technology, is thrilled to announce its recent contract award as part of the UK government's initiative to enhance biodiversity observation capabilities in UK waters. This prestigious recognition is part of a £1.3 million funding effort aimed at supporting innovative solutions to monitor and protect marine ecosystems.
Our project, titled "High-Speed Drone Constellation for Real-Time Monitoring of Marine Ecosystems," leverages a fleet of small, high-performance electric drones. These drones are engineered for speed and efficiency, capable of providing real-time data streams from multiple units operating beyond visual line of sight. This capability marks a significant advancement in environmental monitoring technologies, offering a detailed and dynamic view of marine biodiversity.
One of the standout features of Marble's approach is the emphasis on cost-effectiveness. Our drones are not only smaller and faster but also significantly cheaper to produce compared to current drone technologies, which were originally developed for military purposes. By deploying large constellations of these drones, Marble aims to achieve a cost per square kilometer of operation that is several orders of magnitude lower than existing solutions. This breakthrough makes widespread maritime monitoring not just feasible but highly affordable, opening new doors for conservation efforts and the sustainable management of marine resources.
The impact of this project is expected to be transformative. By providing a solution that drastically reduces the cost of comprehensive marine monitoring, Marble is setting a new standard for environmental stewardship. Our technology paves the way for more frequent and detailed observations of marine life, offering invaluable insights into the health of our oceans and enabling more effective measures to protect and preserve marine biodiversity.
Marble is proud to contribute to the UK's marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme. Our commitment to innovation and environmental conservation is at the heart of everything we do, and this project is a testament to our vision for a sustainable future.

[Quotes from Marble Leadership]
" High-quality, real-time data at sea remains an unsolved problem, as the acquisition of data at such a scale poses complex technical challenges to any platform. Covering large amounts of area as quickly as possible while enduring the unforgiving maritime weather and conditions is an ambitious task, meaning that current solutions are either too expensive to set up, too coarse to generate useful insights, or not fast enough to allow immediate action to be taken place. By leveraging a constellation of small, high-speed, autonomous drones with AI-powered sensors, we are able to maximise the amount the data collected per aircraft while remaining scalable and affordable."
- Frederico Rodrigues, Head of engineering
"The world has committed to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030 through the UN High Sea Treaty - an area 15x bigger than continental US.
Yet today, we have no technology capable of monitoring such a large area. That means we are on track to only be able to deliver "on paper" protection of these critical ecosystems, with no monitoring and enforcement. To make sure there is a fair, global care of the ocean, it is critical to develop systems to ensure there is transparency on who does what in these remote areas that are hard to monitor.
With this project, we are trialling a potential breakthrough solution in the UK, monitoring a large maritime protected area south of Plymouth, and demonstrating how this can scale globally."
- Mathieu Johnsson, Founder and CEO
" Present solutions are outside the feasibility of most clients since they were developed for defence applications first. This makes their cost astronomical compared to the budgets of such deployments. Current industry prices start at 250 £/km2, while to make marine ecosystem monitoring viable you need the cost to come down well below 50 £/km2. Using small high speed drones flying in constellations we can achieve these costs and thus provide this incredibly valuable data and protect our marine ecosystems."
- Allison Mahmood, Chief Commercial Officer

For further information, please contact:
Allison Mahmood
Chief Commercial Officer
Tel: +44 7493 661478
Email: allison@marble.aero

Marble is an aerospace startup founded in 2016 focused on maritime monitoring building cutting-edge hardware & software to protect maritime environments worldwide. Marble conducts operations across the Americas, Africa, and Europe. Most recently launching it's 5th generation aircraft which is fully built in house in Chippenham.

This release was published on openPR.