[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1437 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1437
To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to establish a program to identify, evaluate, acquire,
and disseminate commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery in
order to satisfy the scientific, operational, and educational
requirements of the Administration, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 10, 2025
Mr. Hickenlooper (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to establish a program to identify, evaluate, acquire,
and disseminate commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery in
order to satisfy the scientific, operational, and educational
requirements of the Administration, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Accessing Satellite Capabilities to
Enable New Discoveries Act'' or the ``ASCEND Act''.
SEC. 2. COMMERCIAL SATELLITE DATA.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Section 60501 of title 51, United States Code, states
that the goal for the Earth Science program of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (referred to in this
section as ``NASA'') shall be to pursue a program of Earth
observations, research, and applications activities to better
understand the Earth, how it supports life, and how human
activities affect its ability to do so in the future.
(2) Section 50115 of title 51, United States Code, states
that the Administrator of NASA shall, to the extent possible
and while satisfying the scientific or educational requirements
of NASA, and where appropriate, of other Federal agencies and
scientific researchers, acquire, where cost effective, space-
based and airborne commercial Earth remote sensing data,
services, distribution, and applications from a commercial
provider.
(3) The Administrator of NASA established the Commercial
SmallSat Data Acquisition Pilot Program in 2019 to identify,
validate, and acquire from commercial sources data that support
the Earth science research and application goals.
(4) The Administrator of NASA has--
(A) determined that the pilot program described in
paragraph (3) has been a success, as described in the
final evaluation entitled ``Commercial SmallSat Data
Acquisition Program Pilot Evaluation Report'' issued in
2020;
(B) established a formal process for evaluating and
onboarding new commercial vendors in such pilot
program;
(C) increased the number of commercial vendors and
commercial data products available through such pilot
program; and
(D) expanded procurement arrangements with
commercial vendors to broaden user access to provide
Earth remote sensing data and imagery to federally
funded researchers.
(b) Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program.--
(1) In general.--Chapter 603 of title 51, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 60307. Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program
``(a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish within the
Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate a program to
acquire and disseminate commercial Earth observation data and imagery
in order to satisfy the scientific, operational, and educational
requirements of the Administration, and where appropriate, of other
Federal agencies and scientific researchers.
``(b) Data Publication and Transparency.--The terms and conditions
of commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery acquisitions under
the program described in subsection (a) shall not prevent--
``(1) the publication of commercial data or imagery for
scientific purposes; or
``(2) the publication of information that is derived from,
incorporates, or enhances the original commercial data or
imagery of a vendor.
``(c) Authorization.--
``(1) In general.--In carrying out the program under this
section, the Administrator may--
``(A) procure commercial Earth remote sensing data
and imagery from commercial vendors to advance
scientific research and applications for the purpose
set forth in subsection (a); and
``(B) establish or modify end-use license terms and
conditions to allow for the widest possible use of
procured commercial Earth remote sensing data and
imagery by individuals other than NASA-funded users,
consistent with the goals of the program.
``(2) Acquisition from united states vendors.--The
commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery procured under
this subsection shall be procured, to the maximum extent
practicable, from United States vendors.
``(d) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Administrator
shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of
the House of Representatives a report that includes the following:
``(1)(A) In the case of the initial report, a list of all
vendors that are providing commercial Earth remote sensing data
and imagery to NASA as of the date of the report.
``(B) For each subsequent report, a list of all vendors
that have provided commercial Earth remote sensing data and
imagery to NASA during the reporting period.
``(2) A description of the end-use license terms and
conditions for each such vendor.
``(3) A description of the manner in which each such vendor
is advancing scientific research and applications, including
priorities recommended by the National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine decadal surveys.
``(4) Information specifying whether the Administrator has
entered into an agreement with a commercial vendor or a Federal
agency that permits the use of data and imagery by Federal
Government employees, contractors, or non-Federal users.
``(e) Definition of United States Vendor.--In this section, the
term `United States vendor' means a commercial or nonprofit entity
incorporated in the United States.''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of contents for chapter
603 of title 51, United States Code, is amended by adding at
the end the following new item:
``60307. Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program.''.
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