The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has awarded a $476 million multiple-award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to Airbus DS GEO Inc., a foreign-owned for-profit company, for the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. This contract enables NASA's Earth Science Division to acquire commercial small satellite earth observation data and related services to complement the agency's own Earth science research and monitoring activities. Task orders under this IDIQ include the delivery of optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data products, metadata archiving, and other geospatial services. Airbus has also been awarded a separate Blanket Purchase Agreement to provide NASA with comprehensive SAR data catalogs. The contracts do not contain any set-aside provisions and are expected to run through October 2028, with performance primarily based out of Airbus' facilities in Virginia.
The original CSDA Program solicitation sought industry feedback on the acquisition strategy and requirements, which are focused on obtaining commercial small satellite data that can provide higher resolutions, increased temporal frequency, or novel capabilities beyond NASA's existing Earth observation assets. The government-defined end user license agreements are designed to enable broad dissemination and sharing of the acquired data across the U.S. government and partner organizations to support NASA's Earth science research and applications.
Generated 1/24/25, 9:06 AM