Astra Science Network
Version 129: independent governance and citation-indexing strategy →
Institutional adoption architecture: assessment, credit, and compute →
Funder & Reviewer Brief · Public Beta
What it is
ASTRA is building a science network for researchers across disciplines and career stages: students, independent scientists, academic groups and industry teams. Its long-term mission is research toward a Type I civilization; its practical output is an inspectable research decision and next-step plan.
Its goal is to help researchers make better decisions—and preserve the reasoning so others can inspect, challenge, and reuse it. ASTRA seeks philanthropic support to develop a repeatable public-interest research method, with the workspace serving that work.
The problem
Finding a paper is only the beginning. Researchers must determine whether its evidence supports a particular claim, understand its limitations, and decide whether conflicting evidence changes their next step.
That reasoning often becomes scattered across documents, messages, and AI conversations.
How ASTRA works
Read the proposed ten-step research method →
- Define a question and the decision it informs.
- Save sources and record exact evidence locations, methods, context, and limitations.
- Compare evidence and identify unresolved objections.
- Record a human response and a measurable next test.
- Share records with invited researchers while retaining earlier versions and challenges.
Optional AI prompts help prepare critiques and comparisons. Researchers remain responsible for checking original evidence and any AI-generated suggestions.
What has been built
- Research-source discovery and private drafts with account saves.
- Structured claim assessments and portable exports.
- A document library for invited researchers with challenges and author revisions.
- Dependencies between shared decisions, with linked changes surfaced when a chain is checked.
- An interactive evidence map and cross-source analysis worksheet.
Database listings may describe the same study. Multiple listings do not establish independent confirmation.
What remains unproven
ASTRA has not yet demonstrated that it improves research decisions, reduces errors, or saves researcher time. No completed, independently reviewed ASTRA finding is presented as proof.
The public beta does not establish institutional affiliation, enterprise compliance, or autonomous scientific verification.
Participation and financial sustainability
The network welcomes scientists across disciplines. Who uses ASTRA, who pays for shared infrastructure, and who supports public-interest work are separate questions.
| Route | What must be demonstrated |
|---|---|
| Research teams and institutions | Recurring use, measurable workflow value, an identified budget holder and willingness to pay. Academic groups may be users, collaborators or customers. |
| Industry research, including pharma | A verified need, procurement requirements and suitable security and governance. Regulated R&D is a possible future segment, not an established best-paying market; ASTRA is not enterprise-ready. |
| Grantmakers and philanthropic supporters | Program fit, eligibility, interest and an actual funding commitment. These are prospective supporters, not confirmed revenue. |
How a market estimate would be built
No market-size figure is claimed. Broad “decision intelligence” reports do not establish ASTRA’s addressable market. Estimate reachable teams with a verified recurring need and purchasing authority, then test a realistic annual price and adoption assumptions. Keep subscription revenue separate from grants and sponsorship, avoid counting the same institution twice, and publish the assumptions and uncertainty.
What support would fund
- A bounded pilot around one public-interest research question, with a source-linked finding and documented limitations.
- Qualified methods review and recruitment of researchers to test the method.
- An openly available methods guide, an independent replication attempt, and reliability, accessibility, and data-governance improvements.
The pilot would compare ASTRA with researchers’ existing process, measuring missed evidence, citation errors, next-test quality, time, and reviewer disagreement. Results would be reported after completion, including failures and limitations.
Proposed first pilot
Pilots can come from any scientific discipline. One existing candidate is mapping air-quality monitoring coverage in Atlanta and DeKalb County. The question, geographic boundaries, time period and definition of a coverage gap must be agreed before analysis. Missing monitors do not establish clean air, pollution exposure or a health effect.
The proposed output is a dated, source-linked report with methods, uncertainty, review comments and a correction process. A second researcher would attempt to reproduce it. No finding or replication has been completed.
Funding and progress
ASTRA is exploring fiscal sponsorship and grants. No sponsor, grant award or tax-deductible status is claimed. Funding opportunities and eligibility must be checked before applying.
Progress would be reported through completed reviews, corrections, independent replication attempts and documented use by communities, journalists or researchers. Citations and grant awards would be reported only when they occur. Research time and costs would be measured rather than promised.
Accountability
Founder: Jae DeSouza
ORCID: 0009-0003-8264-4968
Contact: Jae@astrasciencenetwork.org
Website: https://astrasciencenetwork.org
ASTRA is independent of NASA and NASA’s ASTRA Initiative. No affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement is implied.