INFORMATION ON OUR ANNUAL EARTH AND SPACE AWARDS AND HOW TO APPLY
The Earth and Space Foundation awards small grants to projects that either use knowledge of Earth’s environments to advance the settlement of space or use space exploration and data to improve the preservation of Earth, thus advancing its vision of “the Earth as an oasis, cared for by a space-faring civilization.”
The Foundation, since its inception in 1994, has sought to advance the idea that protection of Earth and space settlement are indissolubly linked. Each can help advance the other and both activities are interested in the same objective – the creation of successful human societies in the cosmos, whether on Earth or elsewhere. It has achieved this by supporting, with small grants, fieldwork that contributes to this end. The Foundation was set up by Charles Cockell, an astrobiologist, in the summer after his PhD in 1994. Since its establishment, the Foundation has helped support over 100 projects around the world.
The deadline for the Earth and Space Awards is June 30th each year and you can find the application information below.
Projects supported have ranged from the use of space stations to study the effects of microgravity on miniature, self-contained biospheres to help us understand how the Earth’s biosphere works through to caving expeditions that improve our understanding of extraterrestrial caves for human settlement. We have also supported many studies that use satellite and space technology to help monitor habitats and threatened environments on Earth, and the study of extreme environments on Earth to help us understand space environments.
CATEGORIES OF EXPLORATION SUPPORTED
Below you can find a summary of the types of projects we support that advance the links between environmentalism and space exploration. They fit into two types: 1) Using space to maintain the Earth as an oasis, and 2) Using knowledge of Earth to build a space-faring civilization.
USING SPACE TO MAINTAIN EARTH AS AN OASIS
This category includes:
- Use of space data and materials to improve Earth. Environmental work using technologies resulting from space exploration. Includes the novel use of satellite communications, GPS, remote sensing, advanced materials and power sources for understanding our environment. The use of data from extraterrestrial exploration to help further our understanding of the Earth’s environments and the biosphere. Includes samples and data returned from missions in Earth orbit and beyond.
- Educational advancement at the interface of environmentalism and space exploration. Projects that improve public understanding of the links between environmentalism and space exploration.
USING KNOWLEDGE OF EARTH TO BUILD A SPACE-FARING CIVILIZATION
This category includes:
- Astrobiology-related fieldwork or ‘analog’ field work. Field research in Earth’s extreme environments that assists in the study of habitability elsewhere in the Universe, the study of the survival of life in extreme environments, and the search for life beyond Earth.
- Field research applying Earth’s environmental and biological resources toward the human exploration and settlement of space. Includes the use of extraterrestrial ‘analog’ environments on Earth to test space technologies, and human physiological and psychological studies in extreme environments.
- Astronomy at the interface between Earth and space exploration / astroarchaeology. Includes expeditions making astronomical observations from remote, difficult to access Earth locations, archaeological field projects studying the development of early civilizations that made significant contributions to astronomy and space sciences, field expeditions studying the way in which views of the astronomical environment shaped the nature of past civilizations.
APPLICATION FOR ‘EARTH AND SPACE AWARDS’
We make the application procedure as simple as possible. Please follow the instructions below:
Projects can apply by submitting a description of the project to: info@earthandspace.org. The Foundation requests all submissions electronically. The application should NOT exceed one side of A4/letter and can be submitted as a Word or PDF document.
The deadline for applications is JUNE 30th. There is one funding round per year.
Most types of fieldwork are eligible. They include university fieldwork and expeditions and projects from private or non-profit organizations. We also fund lab-based projects and education projects according to the categories above that fit the Foundation’s objectives. Awards are currently the equivalent of about £450.
Please ensure that the following is included in the one page application submitted:
- – The relevance to the Foundation’s objectives
- – The location and duration of the project
- – Other supporting institutions
- – A summary of the proposed scientific/education objectives and methods of dissemination of this information
- – A brief list of team members and their qualifications
- – An email address for the primary point of contact