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S. 1437 119th Congress Senate

ASCEND Act

Official title: A bill to require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to establish a program to identify, evaluate, acquire, and disseminate… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: 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.

Introduced: April 10, 2025 Introduced by: John W. Hickenlooper Democratic · Colorado See on congress.gov
Science, Technology, Communications Congressional oversightEarth sciencesPhotography and imagingSpace flight and explorationSpacecraft and satellites
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 Everywhere this bill has been 10 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 10, 2025
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Dec 10, 2025
Held at the desk.
Dec 10, 2025
Received in the House.
Dec 9, 2025
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8581; text: CR S8581)
Dec 9, 2025
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Sep 29, 2025
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 119-68.
Sep 29, 2025
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 173.
Apr 30, 2025
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Apr 10, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Apr 10, 2025
Introduced in Senate
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What's happening now December 10, 2025

Held at the desk.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

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.  

 Hearings & markups 1
 Bill text 3 versions

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 25

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

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 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Republican 1
R
Cornyn, John
Texas · Apr 10, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 1437: ASCEND Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1437/
MLA
"S. 1437: ASCEND Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1437/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 1437, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1437/.
Markdown link
[S. 1437: ASCEND Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1437/)
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