WASHINGTON - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected eight new companies and will acquire new data products from six existing contract holders under its Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, expanding the range of commercial Earth-observation data available to researchers, civil agencies, and decision-makers.
The agency said the commercial measurements will supplement observations from NASA's Earth-observing satellite fleet by providing higher-resolution, more frequent data.
The awards were made under NASA's CSDA Program On-Ramp 2 contract, a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple-award vehicle with a cumulative ceiling value of $476 million through Nov. 15, 2028.
Contract awardees include Airbus DS Geo Inc. of Herndon, Va.; GHGSat Inc. of Montreal, Quebec; Hydrosat Inc. of Washington, D.C.; ICEYE US Inc. of Irvine, Calif.; ImageSat International of Tel Aviv, Israel; Kuva US Inc. of Louisville, Colo.; Muon Space Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.; Orbital Sidekick Inc. of San Francisco; OroraTech USA Inc. of Denver, Colo.; Planet Labs Federal Inc. of Arlington, Va.; Space Sciences and Engineering LLC, of Boulder, Colo.; SATLANTIS US of Miami; Tomorrow.io, of Boston; and Wyvern Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta.
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Earth observation
The selections highlight the growing role of commercial remote-sensing providers in supplying data products that complement government-owned Earth-observation systems.
Among the awardees, ICEYE US operates a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation capable of collecting imagery day or night and through cloud cover. Unlike optical sensors, SAR systems actively illuminate targets with radio-frequency energy and process the reflected signals to generate high-resolution images, enabling persistent monitoring of weather-obscured regions. The technology is increasingly being used for disaster response, maritime awareness, infrastructure monitoring, and defense-related intelligence applications.
The awardees collectively represent a range of sensing technologies, including synthetic aperture radar, thermal infrared imaging, atmospheric monitoring, weather intelligence, greenhouse-gas detection, hyperspectral sensing, and optical Earth observation.
Related: ICEYE launches six SAR satellites for sovereign intelligence and Earth observation missions
NASA's CSDA program was established to evaluate and acquire commercial satellite data that can augment observations collected by NASA, other U.S. government agencies, and international partners. The agency says commercial data can provide higher-resolution observations, increased revisit rates, taskable collections, and specialized measurements that complement government-operated missions.
The awards reflect a broader trend across government space programs toward acquiring data and services from commercial providers rather than relying exclusively on government-owned systems. As commercial satellite constellations continue to expand, agencies increasingly are turning to industry-generated environmental intelligence to support scientific research, disaster response, public safety, and other operational missions.
