Uwingu to Fund Space Educators and Outreach Professionals Affected By NASA Sequestration

BOULDER, Colo. - March 25, 2013 - PRLog -- Embargoed Until 10 am Eastern Time, 25 March 2013. Uwingu Funding Space Education and Public Outreach Grants to Staunch Sequestration Cuts

Boulder, Colorado—Space company UwinguTM announced today that all Uwingu Fund proceeds from its public contest to determine the worldwide public’s choice to name the planet orbiting alpha Centauri—the nearest star to the Sun—will be dedicated to grants to Education and Public Outreach (EPO) professionals and projects affected by NASA’s sequestration cuts to EPO.

“NASA’s EPO programs are under severe and sudden stress as a result of last week’s sequestration-driven suspension of all Education and public outreach activities. At Uwingu, we believe that private and commercial funding of space-based initiatives—including research and EPO—is more important now than ever. That’s the purpose of The Uwingu Fund, which is fueled from people participating in the naming contest for alpha Centauri’s planet,” said Uwingu’s CEO, Dr. Alan Stern. “Today we’re announcing that Uwingu is taking action to combat the equestration on NASA EPO by directing all Uwingu Funds proceeds raised through this contest to grants to NASA EPO professionals and projects.”

The name getting the highest number of votes will be declared the public’s name for this mysterious new planet orbiting alpha Centauri. Never before has the public been asked to choose its favorite name for a planet. Anyone can nominate one or more names; anyone can vote. The contest is being help at www.uwingu.com.

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About Uwingu: Uwingu (which means “sky” in Swahili, and is pronounced “oo-wing-oo”) was formed by a team of leading astronomers, planetary scientists, former space program executives, and educators. The company includes space historian and author Andrew Chaikin, space educator Dr. Emily CoBabe-Ammann, citizen science leader Dr. Pamela Gay, author and former museum science director Dr. David Grinspoon, planet hunter Dr. Geoff Marcy, planetary scientist and aerospace executive Dr. Teresa Segura, planetary scientist and former NASA science boss Dr. Alan Stern, and planetary scientist and CEO of the Planetary Science Institute, Dr. Mark Sykes, former Executive Director of the Planetary Society Dr. Louis Friedman, and space artists Jon Lomberg and Dan Durda. Visit Uwingu’s web site at www.uwingu.com to learn more.

For more information, contact Dr. Alan Stern at stern@uwingu.com, or at 970-281-SKY1. Follow Uwingu on Twitter at UwinguSky; and friend Uwingu on Facebook.