Investigating the Roles of Accounting in the Ecosystem of Airspace Networks and in Emerging Markets

This paper investigates accounting trajectories in tracing the flow of money used to fund technical development and deployment of new commercial satellites in Finland. More precisely, the paper uses the theory of assemblage to conceptualize accounting as a node that the funding organizations use to influence the speed and quality of new commercial satellites from the moment of inception to the final moment of launching a new satellite into orbit. The process of setting up, developing and launching a satellite becomes an assemblage that keeps becoming rather than being a static instrument. Empirical data from document analysis and netnography illustrate the nodding role of accounting technology in aligning thoughts, business targets, financial plans, technical designs and technological refurbishment into a territorialization process involving multi-professional tasks and collaborations.