Who funds telescope and astronomical instrumentation research?

We count 81 funded telescope and astronomical instrumentation projects, active between 2020 and 2031, from 4 funders. The most came from EU · ERC (44 projects), NSF · MPS (11 projects) and EU · Research infrastructures (5 projects). The median award is $1.7M, across the 81 of 81 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

81

Funders

4

Median award

$1.7M

Open calls now

4

Top funders of telescope and astronomical instrumentation research

Projects whose title or summary mentions telescope and astronomical instrumentation. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open telescope and astronomical instrumentation funding calls

4 open calls mention telescope and astronomical instrumentation today.

• NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP)
  Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) for NASANot specifiedDeadline: October 28, 2026 ·
• Lasker Fellowship
  Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) for NASANot specifiedDeadline: October 29, 2026 ·
• Brinson Prize Fellowships
  Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) for NASANot specifiedDeadline: November 5, 2026 ·
• PATT travel claim for competitively awarded observation time
  Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)Not specifiedDeadline: Not listed

Funded telescope and astronomical instrumentation projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• CAREER: A Distributed Radio Telescope Powered by Global IoT Networks: Low-Cost, High-Performance, and Spectrum-Sharing
  NSF · ENG · $549,218 · ends 2031
• WoU-MMA: The GRavitatiOnal-Wave Paleontology CataLog (GROWL): Breaking Simulation Silos To Study Compact Object Mergers Across Cosmic Time
  NSF · MPS · $507,993 · ends 2029
• Personalizing Observational Astronomy: A Tiered Low-Cost Telescope Approach to Active Learning Across Undergraduate Astronomy Courses
  NSF · EDU · $399,895 · ends 2029
• Host Galaxies of Dwarf AGN with Rubin Legacy Survey of Space Time and Euclid
  UKRI · STFC · £444,045 · ends 2029
• Shedding Light On JWST Ice Observations: A Laboratory Approach To Untangling Spectral Signatures
  UKRI · STFC · £634,715 · ends 2029
• Measurements of formation rates of newly-detected carbon-rich molecules in star-forming regions
  UKRI · STFC · £563,353 · ends 2029
• Collaborative Research: NSF-BSF The Sephira Project
  NSF · MPS · $980,286 · ends 2029
• Collaborative Research: RUI: NSF-BSF The Sephira Project
  NSF · MPS · $427,561 · ends 2029
• Category II: Transitioning the National Science Data Fabric Pilot into a National Operational Cyberinfrastructure and Service for Democratized, AI-Driven Scientific Discovery
  NSF · CISE · $9,000,000 · ends 2029
• CICI:RSSD: SCOPE-X Optimizing Merit's Network Telescope for High-Quality Large-Scale Datasets
  NSF · CISE · $545,269 · ends 2029

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “telescope or telescopes”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.