Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies Office (CIS)

The Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) office identifies opportunities, nurtures diverse relationships, and implements collaborative solutions to enhance capabilities and technologies in support of exploration and space communications. CIS will foster synergistic relationships and accelerate infusion opportunities by leveraging private industry, other government agencies, and international partners.

CIS’ commercialization effort is a strategic focus within the Exploration and Space Communications (ESC) projects division. The office is dedicated to increasing the industry base for the new Near Space Network, which provides communication and navigation services to missions through both government and commercial assets. Building on an established blueprint of employing commercial providers, NASA is incentivizing the growth of the free market by encouraging a robust marketplace.

CIS infuses innovative technologies that will enable scientific discovery and space exploration. The office leverages Goddard’s rich history in robotic missions and human exploration support, as well as science and technology expertise to help meet agency goals. CIS has a small team dedicated to supporting current and future exploration efforts for the agency.

With over 60 years of communications and navigation experience, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is well-positioned to expand its scientific and technical reach by building relationships, creating partnerships, and leveraging the modern capabilities available in the commercial market.

The Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) office is focusing on increasing the participation of commercial communications service providers that will support missions operating in the near-space region, which extends from Earth to 2 million kilometers.

Connecting experts from industry, academia, and other government and international agencies will create a community of innovators dedicated to providing dependable communications, navigation, and data acquisition services. These services are critical to executing revolutionary robotic, science, and human missions in space.

This new approach to commercialization will enhance the alliance between industry and government, with industry leading, and NASA serving as a cornerstone to drive standardization and interoperability. Additionally, this is a shared opportunity for infusion of new and enabling technologies to provide for a robust marketplace with creative, cost-effective solutions.

The Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) office’s mission engagement team works with user missions to define communications and navigation requirements. The office informs users of available capabilities and prepares them for the mission onboarding process to secure services.

In addition, the team can arrange support for potential new missions, helping formulation teams prepare new business proposals that are more responsive and competitive.

The mission engagement team defines processes, captures information, answers questions, and involves the customer throughout the process. Their work is focused on incorporating flexibility and reducing unnecessary processes and paperwork.

Contact Us:
gsfc-missiononboarding@mail.nasa.gov

The Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) office will serve as an invaluable gateway for meaningful information sharing between NASA, the Department of Defense (DoD), and other U.S. government agencies. CIS is fostering mutually beneficial partnerships and long-lasting relationships that will advance overarching commercialization efforts driven by the Near Space Network (NSN).

The CIS Civil and Defense Space Partnerships team will encourage NASA, DoD, and other U.S. government agencies to explore, with participation from commercial industry, ways to work together to establish the standards, technology, and mechanisms to make commercialization successful and create an interoperable space communications ecosystem around the Earth, to the Moon, and beyond.

For more information, please contact nasa-commercialsynergies@mail.nasa.gov

Space exploration has been NASA’s primary goal since the agency’s inception in the late 1950s. As we return to the Moon with the Artemis missions and then venture onto Mars, cutting edge technologies and capabilities will be critical to advanced exploration efforts.

The Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) office’s exploration team is at the forefront of developing cross-cutting advanced concepts for technology. The team also identifies and leads the adaptation of existing technologies to enable NASA’s next human and robotic forays into our solar system. To leverage all possible capabilities across the country, the exploration team collaborates with partners in industry, academic institutions, and a variety of NASA centers.

The Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) office hosts engagement sessions to foster meaningful, long-lasting partnerships with industry, mission users, and government agencies.

Engagements will include introductory briefings, sessions to connect experts across industry and government, and forums to create a community of innovators dedicated to providing dependable communications, navigation, and data acquisition services. It is our mission to offer platforms for robust dialogue and collaboration on the critical services that guide revolutionary robotic, science, and human exploration missions in space. These will be shared opportunities for the infusion of new and enabling capabilities, and will provide for a vibrant marketplace with creative, cost-effective solutions.

If you are interested in attending one of the following sessions, please contact nasa-commercialsynergies@mail.nasa.gov. We look forward to connecting with you!