Established in August 2016, Kosmonaus — a non-governmental organisation — is the realisation of a project started two years before; its original foundations are centred on three parallel pillars: Science, Science Communication and the preservation of Earth’s biosphere.

The concept of Science as something set in motion by curiosity, by the desire to know more, is one of Kosmonaus’ most important principles. In that pursuit, we seek to develop science projects that result from a preliminary observation of the Universe, free of social pressure and true to the scientific method.

Here, the act of discovery is seen as a mission. By deploying our teams to different scenarios and subject matters, we intend to question and understand their reality, creating new models and making them available to the scientific community.

By design, the internal structure of our organisation aims to create bridges between different social and academic fields, something that is well expressed in our work. We actively promote synergy between scientists and visual artists, something that might pave way to a more dynamic and communicable line of research.

We believe that the adventure of Science — in all its variety — should be viewed as an open and unified endeavour; we conceive it as a collective, human enterprise, which requires full collaboration between the different parts of society in order to reach its full potential, happening in and outside the scientific community.

Inspired by the Greek word for “cosmic ship” (κόσμος + ναύς), Kosmonaus stands as an open and independent platform, focused of the scientific and sensory exploration of the Cosmos.

The prospect of communicating knowledge — resulting from Kosmonaus’ research or reinterpreted from outside sources — is a crucial feature in our praxis. As a consequence, we decided to focus part of our work on the sharing of scientific data, not only as featured content but also through broad educational programmes, adapted to a varied public.

Our motto is clear: to transmit facts and ideas, to question preconceptions and to break the walls of academia, advocating for a conversational perspective on education. The wonder of the natural world assumes a pivotal role in this mindset, inspiring a better and more vivid conversation with society.

Kosmonaus’ third cornerstone lies on the concept of Nature Conservation. This is a notion that is constantly present within the activity of our biology and environmental teams.

Following that ethical choice, we try to channel our data production to the protection of living communities and natural environments, structuring it into multi-year projects that are designed to mitigate negative human impacts.