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Space & New Frontiers

Commercial space, aerospace innovation and new economic activity made possible by lower-cost access to extreme environments.

future-domain
Publish Date2026-09-18
Updated Date2026-09-18

What this domain covers

Space is increasingly an economic and industrial domain, not only a government research program. Commercial launch, satellite systems, aerospace manufacturing, robotics and new forms of observation are expanding what organizations can do beyond traditional terrestrial infrastructure.

What belongs here

Why it matters

The significance of space is often indirect. Satellite data, communications, materials, navigation and aerospace innovation can create capabilities that affect industries far beyond the space sector itself.

In Jim’s words

From “Keynote: UTC Aerospace – The Future of Flight: Innovation in Aerospace Manufacturing” (October 2013)

Jim Carroll delivered a keynote for UTC Aerospace in October 2013. With additive manufacturing, lightweight materials, and next-generation propulsion reshaping aircraft design, Jim explored the innovation trends defining the next era of aerospace manufacturing.

From “Keynote: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – The Business of Space Is Changing” (June 2013)

Jim Carroll delivered a keynote address and facilitated a half-day innovation strategy working session at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on June 10, 2013, hosted by the Innovative Technology Partnerships Office. The audience included senior mission directors, leading scientists — among them members of the team building the James Webb Space Telescope, successor to Hubble — and executives responsible for Goddard’s vast portfolio of Earth science, astrophysics, and heliophysics missions. Carroll explored the rapidly shifting landscape of the space industry — the rise of commercial space, the changing economics of launch, and the implications for how NASA organized its R&D partnerships and valued its innovations — challenging his audience to think with fresh creativity about strategic collaboration in a sector being remade from the outside in. Post-event feedback from the Innovative Technology Partnerships Office described the session as “engaging and thought-provoking,” generating significant enthusiasm for new approaches to how the agency shared its innovations with the world.


Explore Jim’s writing in this domain:
Keynote: UTC Aerospace – The Future of Flight: Innovation in Aerospace Manufacturing
Keynote: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – The Business of Space Is Changing

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