Oshen Grows European Operations with Météo-France and Baltic Missions

29 May 2026

(Image credit: Oshen)

Oshen, the UK maritime sensing and data company, has extended its European operations with two significant new projects: an ocean monitoring mission in the Bay of Biscay for Météo-France, and the first deployment of a C-Star platform in the Baltic, courtesy of VOTO, the Swedish marine research organization.

Oshen’s project for Météo-France, the national meteorological organization, began with one of its signature 1-m-long robotic boats sailing autonomously into the deep waters of the Bay of Biscay. Having successfully navigated 5 m (15 feet) high waves to reach its target destination 325 km (200 miles) offshore, the C-Star held station for two months, delivering real-time ocean and atmospheric data directly into Météo-France’s forecasting systems. The vessel then self-sailed back to Brest, home to the Centre de Météorologie Marine (CMM), which coordinated the project with funding from E-SurfMar, a European program developing and maintaining marine surface observation networks.

In addition to benchmarking the C-Star’s datasets against its own rigorous quality standards, Météo-France evaluated Oshen’s ability to provide reliable, persistent, and cost-efficient sensing in blue-water environments.

The Bay of Biscay has an average depth of 1,744 m. This makes moored sensor buoys—the traditional technology, requiring long, heavy anchoring chains—expensive to install and maintain, and vulnerable in bad weather. In contrast, Oshen’s wind and solar-powered platforms are series-built, for low unit cost, and can be launched by one person. Proven in hurricane conditions and requiring little or no support, C-Stars can provide comparable datasets at a fraction of the cost.

VOTO is meanwhile using a C-Star to augment its fleet of 12 underwater gliders and monitor the air-sea interface. A respected Swedish maritime research institute, it purchased the vessel outright, having assessed all the autonomous surface platforms currently available.

This marks both the first customer sale of a C-Star sale and the first use of Oshen’s technology in the Baltic, a region of increasing scientific and strategic importance. VOTO’s boat will have imaging capability and carry an environmental sensing payload to measure variables including temperature, salinity, wind conditions, air pressure, and air temperature.

Anahita Laverack, CEO of Oshen, said: “These were important projects for Oshen, marking a number of significant ‘firsts’. It was the first time E-SurfMar has evaluated autonomous surface platforms; our first deployment in the Baltic and, of course, the first customer sale of a C-Star.

The Météo-France mission saw our technology operate autonomously in deep water and challenging sea states, over an extended period, all the time delivering operational-quality data directly into the national forecasting system. In the Baltic, VOTO is showing how C-Stars can work in tandem with other technologies to provide a versatile yet comprehensive sensing capability. Together, they represent a step-change in Europe’s ability to monitor and safeguard its maritime environments.”