Crowd-sourcing Science Research

A few entries ago I talked about a unique new crowd-sourcing project for science research that needs to be done but isn’t getting funded as well as it should be. The group doing the crowd-sourcing is called Uwingu, and you can read more about them here.

On the crowdsourcing page (on Indiegogo), Uwingu describes itself as “a small start-up company, a for-profit LLC, consisting of prominent astronomers, planetary scientists, former space program executives, and educators who passionately want to create new ways for space exploration, research, and education to be funded.”

Now the cool thing about this group is that they’re planning to create some very cool products and projects that the company will sell to help fund ongoing research. It’s a private-sector funding stream that the founders hope will bring in millions or even tens of millions of dollars annually for space projects of all kinds. This “Uwingu Fund” will eventually  provide grants to people who propose meritorious projects in space exploration, space research, or space education.

The money Uwingu is raising right now will help put the financial and business structure in place to administer those grants and produce the products.  They’ve raised just over $63,000 toward a goal of $75,000.  They have four days left to raise the rest.  If you go to the Indiegogo page, you’ll see that the beginning amount is a mere $10.00.  Or, you can give thousands. Or anything in between.  $10.00 is a small price to pay, but in the aggregate, if YOU give, and you have some of YOUR friends give, it adds up pretty fast.

So, check it out. I’m a fan of the group, friends and colleagues with some of them, and I think they’ve got a great idea going here.  And, then, once you’ve given, they’ll keep you informed about the product release, the science research they fund, and much more.