H.R. 2600 — Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries Act

This section establishes, within NASA's Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate, the Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program to acquire and disseminate cost-effective commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery to satisfy NASA's scientific, operational, and educational requirements—and, where appropriate, those of other federal agencies and researchers—augmenting observations from NASA, other U.S. government agencies, and international partners. (As background, the program formalizes NASA's 2019 Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition Pilot Program, which has successfully expanded commercial vendor participation and data access for Earth science research.) The program requires procurement primarily from U.S. vendors; authorizes NASA to procure data for research and applications and to modify end-use licenses for widest possible use by non-NASA users; ensures acquisition terms permit publication of data or derived products for scientific purposes; and directs NASA to submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology an initial report within 180 days of enactment—listing current agreements, vendor license terms, research advancements (including National Academies decadal survey priorities), and data use permissions—followed by annual reports on agreements during the prior period. This section also makes a clerical amendment to the table of contents for chapter 603 of title 51, United States Code.