CSDA logo Smallsat Data Explorer

Search, discover, and access NASA acquired commercial small satellite data.

NASA’s CSDA Program is committed to identifying and evaluating commercial smallsat data that have the potential to support NASA’s Earth science research and application activities. Currently, this tool supports search, discovery, and access to data from Planet Labs PBC, Spire Global, Inc., and Airbus U.S. acquired as part of the CSDA Program’s evaluation effort and ongoing collaborations. It also includes EarthDEM data products produced by the Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) at the University of Minnesota. All users can browse the data holdings; however downloading data requires user authentication and approval.

The CSDA Program’s initial data evaluation phase also includes products from Maxar Technologies, Inc. (formerly DigitalGlobe, Inc.). NASA-funded investigators approved for access may submit a request for these data to the CSDA data team. In addition, the CSDA Program has an ongoing partnership with Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. Access to DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) data is available through the TCloud portal. Additional information on the CSDA Program, data availability, and the technical specifications of the commercial data can be found at the CSDA Program webpage.

Vendor / ProductAvailabilityAdditional ResourcesEULA
Planet
  • Partial global archive
  • 12/31/2005 - Present
CSDA Commercial Datasets websitePlanet Expanded EULA
Spire
  • Full global archive
  • 9/24/2018 - 4/18/2019
  • 11/1/2019 - Present
CSDA Commercial Datasets websiteSpire USG EULA
EarthDEM
  • Limited area
  • 6/1/2009 - Present
PGC EarthDEM websiteNextView License
Airbus U.S.
  • Partial global archive
  • 11/19/2007 - 11/25/2022
CSDA Commercial Datasets websiteAirbus U.S. EULA
Summary of data discoverable in the SDX

How it works

Get started with three easy steps.

1

Register on Earthdata

Create an account on earthdata.nasa.gov in order to log into the Smallsat Data Explorer. Users are required to log in to submit data requests.

2

Become an approved user

Fill in a user approval request form for administrators to review your eligibility to access the NASA smallsat archives.

3

Explore data and place order requests

Once approved for data access, users will be given instructions for requesting smallsat data.