Through its CSDA programme, NASA has awarded contracts to eight new companies and approved new data offerings from six existing vendors, strengthening access to commercial EO data.
NASA has awarded contracts to eight commercial satellite data providers under its Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) programme, expanding the range of Earth observation data available to support the agency’s scientific research and applications.
The awards are part of the CSDA On-Ramp 2 Multiple Award contract, a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) agreement with a maximum cumulative value of $476m. The contracts will run through November 2028 and are intended to strengthen NASA’s access to a diverse portfolio of commercial satellite data.
The latest additions to the programme include HydroSat, OroraTech, ImageSat, Satlantis, Kuva Space, Wyvern, Orbital Sidekick and Muon Space. Together, these companies provide a broad range of Earth observation capabilities, including thermal infrared imaging, optical multispectral imagery, hyperspectral data, greenhouse gas emissions monitoring and Global Navigation Satellite System-Radar (GNSS-R) observations.
In addition to the new contract holders, several existing CSDA partners have expanded their offerings with new data products. These include Airbus, ICEYE, GHGSat, Planet Labs, PlanetiQ and Tomorrow.io, which will provide additional capabilities such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR), hyperspectral imagery, greenhouse gas monitoring, GNSS radio occultation data and microwave sounding.
Dana Ostrenga, CSDA Project Manager, said: “NASA’s Earth science community relies on a diverse suite of observations from spaceborne, airborne, and in situ assets to better understand our changing planet. The commercial providers added through this latest CSDA contract on-ramp complement NASA’s existing Earth observation capabilities and our current portfolio of commercial partners, expanding the range of data available for evaluation and use. Together, these observations provide researchers with a more comprehensive view of Earth’s atmosphere, land, oceans, cryosphere, and solid Earth, helping advance scientific discovery and applications that benefit our communities.”
Following the contract awards, the selected companies’ data products will be made available to authorised users through the Satellite Data Explorer (SDX), the CSDA programme’s web-based platform for discovering, accessing, tasking and downloading commercial satellite data acquired by NASA.
The CSDA programme periodically reopens its solicitation process through an on-ramp provision, allowing new companies to compete for contracts while enabling existing vendors to propose newly developed data products or capabilities from new satellite instruments that were unavailable during previous application rounds.
The vendor selection process begins with NASA issuing a request for proposals through the US government’s Sam.gov procurement portal. Submitted proposals are evaluated by a Solicitation Evaluation Board, which assesses whether they meet NASA’s technical requirements for continuous observations, orbital platforms and data aligned with the goals of the agency’s Earth Science Division. Selected proposals receive NASA leadership approval before contracts are awarded, after which the companies’ data products undergo evaluation before becoming eligible to compete for future task orders.
Established by NASA’s Earth Science Division, the CSDA programme serves as the agency’s central framework for identifying, acquiring and evaluating commercial Earth observation data. By integrating commercially sourced satellite information, the program enhances NASA’s own Earth observation capabilities with higher-resolution imagery, more frequent revisit times, complementary measurement technologies and taskable observations that support scientific research and environmental monitoring.