House Passes HR 2600 – ASCEND Act

Today the House took up HR 2600, the Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries (ASCEND) Act, under the suspension of the rules process. After just 8 minutes of debate, the House passed the bill by a voice vote.

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.) No new spending is authorized by this bill.

S 1437 Passed in Senate – ASCEND Act

On Tuesday the Senate took up S 1437 (link to engrossed version), the Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries (ASCEND) Act, that had been introduced by Sen Hickenlooper (D,CO) on April 10^th, 2025. The bill was passed by unanimous consent. A similar bill (HR 2600) was introduced in the House and ordered reported favorably by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

The bill amends 51 USC by adding §60307. It would require NASA to “‘Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program’, to cost-effectively acquire and disseminate commercial Earth observation data and imagery in order to complement the scientific, operational, and educational requirements of the Administration, and where appropriate, of other Federal agencies and scientific researchers.” No new funding is authorized by the legislation.