It doesn’t appear that our investment in NASA is going to change anytime soon, and that’s a shame because about 10% of NASA’s budget goes to funding research and education. In other words only about 0.05% of the entire federal budget goes towards actually funding the research that leads to scientific and engineering breakthroughs or educating the next generation of scientists.
That doesn’t seem like a lot of money to be spending on a resource our country – indeed, the entire world – needs.
And so, a team of astronomers and educators got together to fund Uwingu, a private company that will use its profits to fund research and education projects. The amount of annual funding it can provide is, of course, dependent on how well the company does. But the business model seems pretty straightforward; develop and sell educational products (after all, that is what the founders of the company are good at already) and use the profits to fund more research and education projects.
It’s so crazy, it just might work!
But like any company, Uwingu needs startup capital, and this is where we come in. So far they’ve raised a little more than the $65,000 of the $75,000 they need, but they need that final push to get them there. Check out their fundraiser page and kick in a few bucks. Every bit helps!
Here are a couple of videos to give you a better idea of what they’re all about:
I wish them the best of luck geting this venture off the ground.
