It has always been our childhood dreams of becoming astronauts one day. However, as we lack the access to information and to relevant networks in the industry, it had never occurred to us how it would even be possible for middle-class Filipinos like us to achieve that dream. And as we grew older, we have further realized the difficulties of even starting a space-related startup in the Philippines, especially with the severely limited investment and infrastructure in our country. 

Hence, we opted to tackle the Better Together Challenge, in hopes of finding a solution to the unequal access to opportunities experienced by millions of children and dreamers like us across the globe. By leveraging the network effect provided by the internet, we hope that young Filipinos, and other space-entrepreneurs from third world countries, would be able to have access to funding and relevant information so that we could all achieve our singular dream of bringing people and the world across the fringes of outer space.

Our project’s name, Cosmo-Unity, is a take on the words “cosmos” and “unity,” inspired by our goal of having a united universe. Combined together, the words have a similar sound to “community,” which our project aims to build through having a platform where people from all over the world can freely discuss space-related content, network, and share opportunities.

In terms of technical development during this hackathon, we were limited by time, programming experience, and budget of our team. We first tried to build the website using free plugins with Wordpress. However, given our limited skillset and time-constraint, we realized that we will not be able to meet the deadline of the hackathon if we continue to push with a Wordpress Website. Hence, for our prototype we opted to simply build a wireframe using free tools such as Figma to help visualize how the website will look like. Given a longer time frame and more budget to explore this idea, we would find better programmers to make a working MVP for our website. In addition, to actually build the community, it is imperative that we contact relevant organizations, individuals, incubators and VC firms in order to build the initial community base and content for the website.

https://www.nasa.gov/offices/odeo/nasaunity

The NASA Unity Campaign made us realize how important it is to have unity and interconnectedness integrated into the framework of organizations. In NASA, this is important because tackling great space-related endeavors are never the work of only one person. Tasks are always handled by a team of people with different backgrounds, personalities, and skills, which when mixed together results in a greater outcome than the sum of its parts. This idea inspired us to create Cosmo-Unity where people from different parts of the globe can use their individual skills and their undying passion for space in order to help one another take on seemingly impossible challenges.

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_09.html

This essay has helped us understand the impact of the space age and future space explorations to humanity. There is still a lot to discover about our universe and outer space, such as the possibilities of extraterrestrials beyond the solar system. In addition to exploration, space has had a lot of impact in improving our daily lives. Satellites and the GPS have greatly contributed to society by giving us a clearer picture of our world and by improving our communication systems. With these, it is imperative that we continue to support everyone who is contributing to the development of space-technology. Everyone should have the same access to the funding and resources required in order for them to continue to build and innovate in the space industry. Cosmo-Unity’s discussion forums and networking features aim to provide this necessary support to space-startups and aspiring astronauts.

https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/the-overview-effect/

It is our first time being introduced to the “overview effect.” Having learned that spaceflight may cause a cognitive shift in a person and that one’s attitude may change when the Earth is seen from outer space was truly eye-opening. It made us realize that space activities are a great way of helping people realize that physical borders are just illusions we people make to categorize ourselves into nations. But in reality, the world is just one place, a small singular mass of rock in the vastness of the universe. Everyone in it, every person, every nation, every culture, is just one. If we make opportunities to learn stuff like the overview effect available to more people, not only will their scientific knowledge improve, but also their attitude and moral dispositions may also lean toward a more inclusive world.

Link to Figma (Click on "Present" to view sample site):

https://tinyurl.com/cosmounity

Link to Slides (for those who do not have access to Figma):

https://tinyurl.com/cosmounityppt

Other References:

1. https://www.nasa.gov/offices/odeo/nasaunity
2. https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_09.html
3. https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/the-overview-effect/
4. https://hbr.org/2019/09/how-to-create-an-online-community-that-people-will-pay-for
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/08/26/the-importance-of-online-communities-in-2020/#35d64aaa7ba9
6. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2020-investment-in-space-startups-tops-12-1-billion--whats-fueling-the-growth-301104177.html
7. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2020/01/16/space-industry-investments-hit-record-high-as-venture-capital-seeks-the-next-spacex/#14d9c4f77f9f
8. https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/11/9-top-space-tech-vcs-on-the-markets-opportunities-and-challenges/
9. https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/to-the-moon-and-back-the-top-vc-investors-in-space-tech
10. https://martinwilson.me/commercial-space-venture-capital-investment/
11. https://techcollectivesea.com/2020/03/09/exploring-the-spacetech-industry-in-southeast-asia/amp/