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S 1437 · 119th Congress · Science, Technology, Communications

ASCEND Act

Introduced April 10, 2025 Latest action December 10, 2025 1 cosponsor

Sponsor

Latest action

Held at the desk.

Action timeline

Every recorded action on this bill, newest first. Stage badges color-code the legislative path.

Dec 10, 2025
floor Received in the House.
Dec 10, 2025
floor Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Dec 10, 2025
floor Held at the desk.
Dec 09, 2025
passed Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Dec 09, 2025
passed Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8581; text: CR S8581)

Text versions

Each stage of the bill — official text published by GPO. Click any format to read on congress.gov / govinfo.

Dec 09, 2025 Engrossed in Senate
XML
Sep 29, 2025 Reported to Senate
XML
Apr 10, 2025 Introduced in Senate
XML

CRS summaries

Plain-English summaries written by the Congressional Research Service — neutral, nonpartisan staff who summarize bills as they advance through stages. The authoritative description of what each version of the bill does.

via Congressional Research Service · published through congress.gov

Changelog
ⓘ

How a bill moves through Congress. Each stage produces a new official text. The diff between them shows what changed at that step.

  1. ih / is — Introduced in House / Senate. First filed version.
  2. rfh / rfs — Referred to a committee for review.
  3. rh / rs — Reported back by the committee to the floor (often with amendments — this is where most language changes happen).
  4. pcs / pch — Placed on Calendar for floor consideration.
  5. eh / es — Engrossed. Passed by the originating chamber. Text is now what was actually voted on.
  6. rdh / rds — Received by the other chamber.
  7. eah / eas — Engrossed Amendment. The other chamber passed an amended version.
  8. ath / ats — Agreed to. Both chambers settled on the same text.
  9. enr — Enrolled. Final reconciled text, sent to the President.
  10. pl — Public Law. Signed by the President. It's now law.
  11. pp — Public Print. Official printing post-enactment.

Most bills die before eh/es. Going from pcs → enr is the full path through both chambers.

Line-level diff between text versions of this bill — what actually changed at each legislative stage.

→
+8 −155 37 unchanged
--- Reported (Senate)
+++ Engrossed (Senate)
@@ -1,40 +1,15 @@
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
-[S. 1437 Reported in Senate (RS)]
+[S. 1437 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]
<DOC>
-Calendar No. 173
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1437
-[Report No. 119-68]
-
-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
-
-September 29, 2025
-
-Reported by Mr. Cruz, with an amendment
-[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
-in italic]
-
-_______________________________________________________________________
-
-A BILL
+AN ACT
To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to establish a program to identify, evaluate, acquire,
@@ -44,124 +19,6 @@
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
-
-<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>
-
-<DELETED> This Act may be cited as the ``Accessing Satellite
-Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries Act'' or the ``ASCEND
-Act''.</DELETED>
-
-<DELETED>SEC. 2. COMMERCIAL SATELLITE DATA.</DELETED>
-
-<DELETED> (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following
-findings:</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (4) The Administrator of NASA has--</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (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;</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (B) established a formal process for
-evaluating and onboarding new commercial vendors in
-such pilot program;</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (C) increased the number of commercial
-vendors and commercial data products available through
-such pilot program; and</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (D) expanded procurement arrangements with
-commercial vendors to broaden user access to provide
-Earth remote sensing data and imagery to federally
-funded researchers.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (b) Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program.--
-</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (1) In general.--Chapter 603 of title 51, United
-States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
-following:</DELETED>
-<DELETED>``Sec. 60307. Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition
-Program</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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--</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(1) the publication of commercial data or
-imagery for scientific purposes; or</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(2) the publication of information that is
-derived from, incorporates, or enhances the original commercial
-data or imagery of a vendor.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(c) Authorization.--</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(1) In general.--In carrying out the program
-under this section, the Administrator may--</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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:</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(2) A description of the end-use license terms
-and conditions for each such vendor.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> ``(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.''.</DELETED>
-<DELETED> (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:</DELETED>
-
-<DELETED>``60307. Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program.''.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
@@ -274,28 +131,24 @@
the end the following new item:
``60307. Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program.''.
-Calendar No. 173
+Passed the Senate December 9, 2025.
+
+Attest:
+
+Secretary.
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1437
-[Report No. 119-68]
-
_______________________________________________________________________
-A BILL
+AN ACT
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.
-
-_______________________________________________________________________
-
-September 29, 2025
-
-Reported with an amendment

Lobbying activity

Organizations whose LDA filings reference this bill, ranked by filing count. Position not disclosed — LDA does not require lobbyists to report support / oppose / monitor. Bill-number references can be stale (lobbyists sometimes copy text year-over-year), so verify against the filing description.

PLANET LABS PBC *
AER
4
filings · 2026 Q3
AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA INC *
AER
4
filings · 2026 Q3
VANTOR PARENT INC *
AER
4
filings · 2026 Q3

via Senate LDA · self-reported quarterly. Filing count = filings mentioning this bill (no position required), not money spent on it. Click a client to see all bills they've filed on.

Cosponsors (1)

Members who signed on to support this bill.

Cornyn R