"A crew of engineers in the middle of the ocean will try to fix a device that was intended to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic have coalesced into a field of debris twice the size of Texas.

The garbage catcher has been floating in the Pacific since its highly anticipated launch out of San Francisco in September, but it has yet to produce the results anticipated.

Its inventor, 24-year-old Boyan Slat, told The Associated Press the solar-powered barrier hasn't collected any loads of trash because it's moving more slowly than the plastic it's trying to capture."

Francesca Paris reports for NPR December 18, 2018. [2]