ASCEND Act
- Last Action
- 12/10/2025
Actions
- 2025-12-10Held at the desk.
- 2025-12-10Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- 2025-12-10Received in the House.
- 2025-12-09Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8581; text: CR S8581)
- 2025-12-09Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- 2025-09-29Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 173.
- 2025-09-29Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 119-68.
- 2025-09-29Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 119-68.
- 2025-04-30Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
- 2025-04-10Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- 2025-04-10Introduced in Senate
CRS Summary
As of 2025-12-09 (55)
Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries Act or the ASCEND Act
This bill provides statutory authority for the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program run by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Through the CSDA program, NASA acquires remote sensing data and imagery from commercial satellites to support its Earth science research. (Remote sensing generally refers to the collection of data by instruments in Earth’s orbit, such as satellites, that can be processed into imagery of Earth’s surface.)
Under the bill, NASA may establish or modify end-use agreements to allow for broad use of data and imagery acquired under the program, including by individuals outside of NASA (e.g., other federal agencies). The terms of any data or imagery acquisition may not prevent the publication of such data or imagery for scientific purposes or the publication of information derived from it. To the extent practicable, NASA must acquire such data and imagery from U.S. vendors.
Cosponsors (1)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
Subjects
- Congressional oversight
- Earth sciences
- Photography and imaging
- Space flight and exploration
- Spacecraft and satellites
Sourced from Congress.gov (public domain).
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