NASA will buy satellite pictures from private companies for science.
H.R. 2600 — Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries Act · Filed by Jeff Hurd (R-CO) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 2, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
NASA must set up a program to buy satellite images from private companies. NASA will share this data with other government agencies and scientists. The law says NASA should buy from U.S. companies when it can. Scientists can publish and use the data for research. NASA must tell Congress each year about the deals it makes.
Who it affects
Scientists and government agencies get access to satellite data. Private satellite companies can sell their data to NASA. The public can read and use the data for science.
One thing to notice
The law turns a test program into a permanent one. NASA will keep buying satellite data from companies without Congress voting each time.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Apr 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 2, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology”
- Apr 29, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Apr 29, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
- Feb 23, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2242-2243)”
- Feb 23, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Babin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 3 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $1,360,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 12 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 61% of bills with any report.
Jeff Hurd, who sponsored the bill, received $612,454 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Aerospace Industries Association of America Inc — $800,000 in 1 report
- Planet Labs Pbc — $400,000 in 1 report
- Vantor Parent Inc — $160,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- satellite images — Pictures of Earth taken by satellites owned by private companies.
- government agencies — Departments and offices that work for the U.S. government.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,424 characters) on Jun 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-23.
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