NASA Commercial Impact Hub

From siting new infrastructure to tracking global commercial activity, satellite Earth observations offer transformative intelligence to support energy and infrastructure needs.

The NASA Commercial Impact Hub (CIH), launched in 2022, is an initiative that explores the potential for satellite data to support decision-making in the private sector. The initiative evolved out of a series of workshops exploring the connections between satellite data and energy information needs, hosted by UW-Madison and partners from 2022-2024.

Objectives

The NASA Commercial Impact Hub was established to grow the utilization of NASA data in the energy sector and has since expanded to include applications for maritime infrastructure and data center assessment. Our goal is to broaden the use of NASA data in the private sector by documenting successes, identifying opportunities, and building partnerships for future data applications. We are working to:

• Build two-way relationships between NASA and industry and work together to identify where satellite data can inform real decisions
• Build pathways for enhanced integration of existing NASA data products to support private-sector operations, investments, and decision-making
• Reach new organizations and characterize potential new NASA data applications to industries

The CIH revolves around three focus areas:

• Satellite data for energy decision-making
  • The energy focus area of the CIH relates closely to our relationship with UW’s Energy Analysis and Policy program and is led by Dr. Tracey Holloway. We are working to grow partnerships and understand satellite data use cases around energy supply, distribution, and adjacent industries.
• Satellite data for maritime infrastructure and commerce
  • Our maritime focus relates to our expertise around oceans and is led by Dr. Alyson Fleming. We are exploring the potential of NASA satellite data products to improve safety, efficiency, regulatory compliance, and competitive, and advantage at sea.
• Satellite data for sustainable data centers
  • The data center component of the CIH focuses around satellite-guided environmental risk screening for data center siting. This focus area is led by Dr. Min Chen and also relates to UW’s collaboration with QTS data centers around sustainability.

Outcomes

1. Roundtables bring together energy organizations, boundary organizations, and NASA data providers to understand needs and possibilities
2. Systematic relationship-building grows a community of partners
3. Analysis of NASA EO applications, information needs, and gaps in available data products sets the stage to expand NASA data value to private sectors and operations.