Uwingu Launches Its First Call for Grant Applications

BOULDER, Colo. - April 8, 2014 - PRLog -- Space startup Uwingu announced today that it is soliciting applications from planetary science graduate students to support their travel to report research results at scientific meetings in 2014 and early-2015. Applications are due by 30 April 2014 at 11:59 PM PST.

Uwingu expects to make 10-15 awards of travel grants from this solicitation by early June. Any graduate student completing their PhD in 2014 who is studying planetary science and/or exoplanets are eligible. Recipients must use the funds to present their research at a research conference occurring by 30 April 2015. Selections will be made based on material provided by applicants in the form at: http://tinyurl.com/Uwingu-TravelAwards.

Uwingu is a for-profit, public engagement space company based in Boulder, CO, led by senior planetary scientists and astronomers (see http://www.uwingu.com/about-us/who-we-are/). Uwingu’s mission is to connect the public to space exploration in new ways and to create a grant fund to support a wide range of space efforts by individual space researchers, educators, and organizations.

Uwingu’s Mars Map Crater Naming Project at www.uwingu.com, which is funding these student grants, allows anyone with a connection to the Internet to help name approximately 590,000 unnamed, scientifically cataloged craters on Mars. The project aims to ultimately raise up to $10M for Uwingu’s grant fund.

Uwingu’s Mars map grandfathers in all the already named craters on Mars, opening the remainder up for naming by people around the globe. Prices for naming craters depend on the size of the crater, and begin at $5 dollars. Uwingu makes a shareable Internet link and a naming certificate available to each crater namer for each newly named crater. This public engagement project will culminate with the flight of Uwingu’s Mars Map to Mars in 2018 aboard the Mars One 2018 robotic lander, currently in definition phase at aerospace giant Lockheed-Martin.

Dr. Alan Stern, Uwingu’s CEO added, “We are excited to begin making grants to students and to supporting their research, and look forward to selecting the best applications we receive for funding. We expect to make more and more grant solicitations as revenues from our Mars Map Crater Naming Project continue to grow.”

         ####

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, author and former museum science director Dr. David Grinspoon, planet hunter Dr. Geoff Marcy, Mars scientists Drs. Peter Smith and Teresa Segura, planetary scientist and former NASA science director Dr. Alan Stern, planetary scientist and CEO of the Planetary Science Institute, Dr. Mark Sykes, and space artists Jon Lomberg and Dan Durda. In late-2012, Uwingu successfully conducted one of the 25 largest Indiegogo crowd-funding campaigns ever, using the funds raised to launch its ongoing series of public engagement projects. Visit Uwingu’s web site at www.uwingu.com to learn more, or contact us via stern@uwingu.com and 303-324-5269.

Follow Uwingu on Twitter at UwinguSky; and friend Uwingu on Facebook.