ASCEND Act

This bill tells NASA to set up a program to find, review, buy, and share commercial satellite images and data. The goal is to use this Earth remote sensing information to support NASA’s science, day-to-day operations, and education work. The bill labels this effort a “Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program”.

Key points:

• Who is affected: NASA and its science, operations, and education activities; commercial providers of satellite data the agency may buy from.
• What changes: NASA must create a program to identify, evaluate, acquire, and disseminate commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery to meet its needs.