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An impressive group of individuals from the space and astronomy community have teamed up to create an innovative, out-of-the-box concept to help solve what appears to be a growing problem for researchers, scientists, educators and students: how to get funding for research and other ground-breaking projects. With NASA and National Science Foundation budgets shrinking, a new start-up called Uwingu (which means sky in Swahili) will be working to provide ways to keep space science thriving. Founders of the project include notable names like Alan Stern, Andrew Chaikin, Pamela Gay, Geoff Marcy, Mark Sykes, David Grinspoon, and Emily CoBabe-Amman.

Stern told Universe Today that said the groups initiative is not so much in response to the current government funding troubles, but a way to expand resources for the space and astronomy community, which is just smart business, he said.

However, it is an indication of changing times. We couldnt do this without the internet, frankly, which provides a new avenue for reaching people, Stern said.

Additionally, Stern contrasted space and astronomy research, which mainly relies on NASA and NSF grants, to medical research, which has multiple lines of funding venues such as pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the hundreds of medical foundations such as the American Cancer Society, in addition to government grants.

While Stern explained that he couldnt yet reveal all the details of Uwingu, he did provide a few hints.

The idea is to provide outstanding, innovative and cutting edge products, he said. We wont just be accessing space and astronomy people who want to give to a cause, but will be accessing the general public, which is a much bigger marketplace.

Dr. Pamela Gay wrote about Uwingu on her Starstryder website, saying Their ideas are so elegant that I cant believe they havent already been done.

While the team is still finalizing some of their concepts, part of their reticence is building suspense. Just like any new product line, its part of building suspense, just like Apple does when they release a new product. But we have a whole series of projects in work, and we want to do it right, too.

Stern said part of what they are doing is to be a safety net for the space and astronomy community and part of it is to do new things. But, he added, when people have the greatest need is a probably good time to launch a project like this.

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