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The Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program evaluates and procures data from commercial vendors that advance NASA’s Earth science research and applications activities.

Currently, data acquired during the evaluations of Planet, Maxar, BlackSky, GHGSat, Airbus U.S., and Spire Global are available. Data from the Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) also are available through a separate collaboration. See the table below to learn how to access vendor-specific data. All data products are available through CSDA at no cost to authorized researchers and are subject to scientific use licenses.

The commercial data currently distributed by NASA are available under different scientific use licenses and various access portals. Please see table below for data access portals and vendor-specific end user license agreement (EULA) information. Check back for updates on new data acquisitions.

Maxar data requests are supported by the CSDA program data team. Access requests may be made by filling out the authorization request form.

Data and End User License Agreements

VendorData AvailableDate RangeWho is authorized to use the dataScientific use onlyWhere to get archived dataEULA
PlanetPlanetScope6/29/2014-PresentU.S. Federal civil agencies (including NSF) and their funded researchersYesPlanet ExplorerPlanet Expanded EULA
RapidEye2/1/2009-12/31/2019
SkySat3/10/2015-12/12/2019SDX
Maxar (formerly DigitalGlobe)WorldView 109/18/2007-PresentNASA (funded) researchersYesCSDA data teamCommercial Data/Imagery EULAs Fact Sheet
WorldView 210/8/2009-Present
WorldView 38/13/2014-Present
GeoEye-19/6/2008-Present
QuickBird10/18/2001-1/27/2015
IKONOS10/24/1999-3/31/2015NextView License
WorldView 412/1/2016- 1/7/2019
Maxar EULA
BlackSkySpaceview-2411/29/2018- 07/31/2023U.S. Government (funded) researchersYesSDXUSG EULA
GHGSatMethane Abundance and Emission Rates01/03/2021- 04/31/2024U.S. Government (funded) researchersYesSDXUSG EULA
Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc.DESIS11/21/2018- 05/31/2024U.S. Government (funded) researchersYesFor available archived data contact: support-csda@nasa.govDESIS EULA
Polar Geospatial CenterEarthDEM U.S. Government (funded) researchers

N/A

For further information contact pgc-support@umn.edu

SDXCommercial Data/Imagery EULAs Fact Sheet
Airbus U.S.TerraSAR-X11/19/2007-11/25/2022U.S. Government (funded) researchersYesSDXAirbus U.S. USG EULA.
TanDEM-X2/3/2011-11/4/2022
PAZ9/20/2018-10/2/2022
SpireGNSS Radio Occultation9/24/2018 - 12/9/2018; 12/14/2018 - 3/8/2019; 11/1/2019-PresentU.S. Government (funded) researchersYesSDXSpire USG EULA
GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry1/9/2019-4/18/2019; 11/1/2019-Present
GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry Sea Ice3/1/2020-Present
GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry Altimetry6/16/2020-Present
GNSS-R Level-1 Bistatic RCS5/1/2021-Present
Ionospheric Profiles11/1/2019-Present
Magnetometer11/1/2019-PresentRequest authorization
Raw Radio Occultation6/17/2020-9/8/2020By request (PDF)
Satellite Precise Orbital Determination (POD) and Satellite Attitude9/24/2018-4/18/2019; 11/1/2019 -PresentSDX
Scintillation11/1/2019-Present
Total Electron Content11/1/2019-Present
Ocean Winds and MSS5/1/2021-Present

Principal Investigators (PIs) should submit publications as a courtesy copy to the vendor.

CSDA-acquired data are for Scientific use, which is defined as use by Licensed Users of the data products pursuant to a NASA-initiated, U.S. Government-funded, and/or U.S. Government-peer reviewed investigation established through a NASA Research Announcement or similar public notice of opportunity, and performed for the sole purpose of conducting experiments, evaluation, research, and/or development, including basic and applied research under Government Science Program. Scientific use is not intended for the development of commercial products or services and does not include activities funded or sponsored by non-governmental organizations or activities outside of the U.S. Government.

Value-Added Product means a work that is created when a Licensed User modifies Licensed Material—through technical manipulation, addition of data, or both—where the principal features and characteristics of the source Licensed Material are retained in the work and are extractable through technical means. Value-Added Products created from Licensed Material received under this agreement will be considered as Licensed Material.

Derived Product means a work that is created when a Licensed User exploits Licensed Material in a manner that irreversibly modifies and uncouples the work from its source, such that extraction of the principal features and characteristics of the source Licensed Material is impracticable. This includes but is not limited to License User derived Digital Elevation Models. Derived Products are not considered Licensed Materials.

All data requests must be approved by CSDA data managers. To request access to CSDA data offerings, complete the CSDA Authorization form. The CSDA team will verify if the user is authorized for data access first. Once verified, the user will be provided with additional information on how to request and access data.

Get answers to frequently asked questions about accessing and requesting commercial data.

For vendor-specific details, including a list of available satellites, their orbits, and instrument temporal and spectral resolutions, please see information for each vendor:

Vendor
Planet
Maxar
GHGSat
Spire
Teledyne Brown Engineering
Polar Geospatial Center
Airbus U.S.
BlackSky