Thespaceshow's Blog

Guest:  Dr. Alan Stern.  Topics:  Uwingu, the Uwingu Fund, planet naming and voting opportunities.  Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. We welcomed Dr. Alan Stern back to the program to further discuss Uwingu and their first product which is focused on planet naming and voting opportunities.  Please see the Uwingu website for more details, www.uwingu.com. During this one hour program, Dr. Stern explained the Uwingu concept and the first product, the opportunity to suggest names for planets and to vote on them.  The goal is to build a data base of names that might be used as new planets are discovered.  It costs 99 cents to suggest a name or vote for one name, but there is discount pricing if you plan on nominating or voting for more than just one name.  See http://betaclone.uwingu.com/faq/pricing for discounted pricing details for larger orders.  We heard from many listeners with great ideas on how to promote planet naming because the goal for Uwingu is to put half the proceeds into the Uwingu Fund to support space development projects.  Suggestions ranged from school and classroom activities to birthday parties, holiday stocking stuffers, gifts, and more.  As you will hear, you can certainly nominate more than one name and you can vote for more than one name and you can vote as often as possible. Alan explained the rules governing a name nomination plus plans for versions of this concept to be in different languages on the Uwingu site. There are time parameters to this planet naming opportunity which Alan discussed during our program.  The subject of payment came up and Uwingu accepts all major credit cards as well as Pay Pal.  This is applicable for those outside the United States as well as here in the States.  Alan explained the use of the Citation for your nomination. Here, you get to make a brief statement as to why you are nominating a specific name.

If you have questions or comments about Uwingu, the planet naming & voting opportunities, or anything related, please post them on The Space Show blog and I will call them to Dr. Stern’s attention.  When you nominate a name, also post it on our blog so we can follow along with Space Show listener suggestions. Lastly, you will hear some “rough” edit cuts near the end of the program.  Unfortunately, workers on the premises triggered a central station fire alarm and I had to excuse myself from the discussion with Alan for a few minutes to silence the alarm.  This interference was edited out for our archives and podcasting recordings.