[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2634 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2634

  To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 
   Administration to establish 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 for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 27, 2023

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 acquire and disseminate 
 commercial Earth observation 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 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 remote sensing data acquisitions under the program 
described in subsection (a) shall not prevent--
            ``(1) the publication of commercial data for scientific 
        purposes; or
            ``(2) the publication of information that is derived from, 
        incorporates, or enhances the original commercial data of a 
        vendor.
    ``(c) Authorization.--In carrying out the program under this 
section, the Administrator may--
            ``(1) procure the remote sensing data and imagery from 
        commercial vendors necessary to advance scientific research and 
        applications;
            ``(2) establish or modify end-use license terms and 
        conditions to allow for the use of procured data and imagery by 
        individuals other than NASA-funded users, consistent with the 
        goals of the program; and
            ``(3) as practicable, procure remote sensing data and 
        imagery from commercial vendors to support--
                    ``(A) nonscientific applications; and
                    ``(B) nonmilitary activities of Federal agencies.
    ``(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 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 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.''.
            (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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