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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3029 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3029
To provide for Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space
Administration research and development coordination, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 22 (legislative day, October 21), 2025
Mr. Sullivan (for himself and Mr. Schiff) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space
Administration research and development coordination, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``DOE and NASA Interagency Research
Coordination Act''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION.
(a) Authorization.--
(1) Research and development activities.--The Secretary of
Energy (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') and
the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (in this section referred to as the
``Administrator'') may carry out, as practicable, cross-cutting
and collaborative research and development activities to
support the advancement of Department of Energy and National
Aeronautics and Space Administration mission requirements and
priorities.
(2) Competitive awards.--The Secretary and the
Administrator may make competitive awards, in accordance with
subsection (e), to carry out the research and development
activities described in paragraph (1).
(b) Memoranda of Understanding.--The Secretary and the
Administrator shall coordinate the activities under subsection (a)
through 1 or more memoranda of understanding or other appropriate
interagency agreements.
(c) Coordination.--In carrying out the activities under subsection
(a), the Secretary and the Administrator may do the following:
(1) Conduct collaborative research and development
activities in a variety of focus areas, which may include the
following:
(A) Propulsion systems and components, including
nuclear thermal and nuclear electric propulsion,
radioisotope power systems, thermoelectric generators,
advanced nuclear fuels, and heater units.
(B) Modeling and simulation, machine learning, data
assimilation, large scale data analytics, and
predictive analysis in order to optimize algorithms for
mission-related purposes.
(C) Fundamental high energy physics, astrophysics,
and cosmology, including the nature of dark energy and
dark matter, in accordance with section 305 of the
Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act (42
U.S.C. 18643).
(D) Fundamental Earth and environmental sciences,
in accordance with section 306 of the Department of
Energy Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18644)
and section 60501 of title 51, United States Code.
(E) Quantum information sciences, including quantum
computing and quantum network infrastructure, in
accordance with sections 403 and 404 of the National
Quantum Initiative Act (15 U.S.C. 8853 and 8854).
(F) Radiation health effects, in accordance with
section 306 of the Department of Energy Research and
Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18644).
(G) Ground-based and space-based technology
necessary for the transmission to the Earth's surface
of solar energy collected in space.
(H) Arctic science and infrastructure resilience,
including the monitoring of permafrost thaw, sea ice
extent, wildfire dynamics, and other Earth system
changes that affect energy systems, national security,
and climate modeling.
(I) Wildfire mitigation and resilience methods to
reduce wildfire risk and the severity of wildfire
damages.
(J) Space weather forecasting and geomagnetic storm
impact assessment, especially as related to power
grids, pipelines, communication systems, aviation, and
satellite operations in high-latitude regions.
(K) Satellite data acquisition, processing, and
distribution infrastructure (including high-latitude
ground stations and data centers) that support Earth
observation, synthetic aperture radar data, and space
mission telemetry.
(L) STEM workforce development and experiential
training programs, particularly in underserved or
remote regions such as the Arctic, in fields relevant
to agency missions, including aerospace engineering,
space physics, Earth system modeling, and remote
sensing.
(M) Any other area of potential research and
development collaboration the Secretary and the
Administrator consider important to achieving agency
missions and objectives.
(2) Develop methods to accommodate large voluntary data
sets on space and aeronautical information on high-performance
computing systems with variable quality and scale.
(3) Promote collaboration and data and information sharing
between the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, the National Laboratories (as defined in
section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)),
and other appropriate entities by providing the necessary
access and secure data and information transfer capabilities.
(4) Support access by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to the research infrastructure and capabilities
of the Department of Energy, as practicable.
(d) Agreements.--In carrying out the activities under subsection
(a), the Secretary and the Administrator may--
(1) carry out reimbursable and nonreimbursable agreements
between the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration; and
(2) collaborate with other Federal agencies, as
appropriate.
(e) Merit-Review Process.--The Secretary and the Administrator
shall ensure that any competitive award made to carry out the
activities under subsection (a) follows all appropriate laws and agency
policies, including the following:
(1) Selection by merit-review-based processes.
(2) Consideration of applications from Federal agencies,
the National Laboratories, institutions of higher education,
nonprofit institutions, and other appropriate entities.
(f) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Secretary and the Administrator shall submit to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee
on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a
report detailing the following:
(1) Interagency research and development coordination
activities between the Department of Energy and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration carried out under this
Act.
(2) The manner in which such coordination activities expand
the technical capabilities of the Department of Energy and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
(3) Collaborative research and development achievements.
(4) Areas of future mutually beneficial activities,
including potential applications of clean energy technologies,
such as marine energy, and collaborative initiatives to advance
Arctic science, wildfire resilience, space weather resilience,
and the STEM workforce pipeline in high-need regions.
(5) Continuation of coordination activities between the
Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
(g) Research Security.--Any activity carried out under subsection
(a) shall be applied in a manner consistent with subtitle D of title VI
of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act
(enacted as division B of Public Law 117-167; 42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.).
(h) Authorization for Transfer to NASA of Funds From Other Agencies
for Scientific or Engineering Research or Education.--
(1) In general.--Section 20113(f) of title 51, United
States Code, is amended--
(A) by striking ``In the performance of its
functions'' and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--In the performance of its functions'';
and
(B) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(2) Treatment.--Funds available to any department or
agency of the Federal Government for scientific or engineering
research or education, or the provision of facilities for such
research or education, shall, subject to the approval of the
head of such department or agency or as delegated pursuant to a
regulation of such department or agency, be available for
transfer, in whole or in part, to the Administration
exclusively for activities directly related to space
exploration and its associated science, technology, or
engineering research or education activities. Funds so
transferred shall be merged with the appropriation to which
transferred, except that such transferred funds shall be
limited to the awarding of grants or cooperative agreements for
scientific or engineering research or education.''.
(2) Annual information on funds transferred.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator
shall include in the budget justification materials of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
submitted to Congress in support of the budget of the
President submitted pursuant to section 1105 of title
31, United States Code, information describing the
activities conducted under section 20113(f) of title
51, United States Code, during the fiscal year
immediately preceding such submission.
(B) Contents.--The information required to be
submitted under subparagraph (A) shall contain a
description of each transfer of funds under the
authority provided in section 20113(f)(2) of title 51,
United States Code, during the fiscal year immediately
preceding such submission, including the following:
(i) An identification of the department or
agency of the Federal Government from which
such funds were transferred.
(ii) The total amount of funds so
transferred, disaggregated by each such
department or agency.
(iii) The purposes for which such funds
were appropriated to each such agency or
department.
(iv) An identification of the program or
activity of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to which such funds were made
available by each such transfer.
(v) The purposes of each such National
Aeronautics and Space Administration program or
activity, and the amount of funding
appropriated to the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration for such purposes.
(3) Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the
Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of
the House of Representatives a report that includes the
following:
(A) A summary of the value of the authority
provided in section 20113(f)(2) of title 51, United
States Code, including the extent to which such
authority has benefitted--
(i) the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration; and
(ii) the ability of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration to meet
its needs, achieve its missions, or more
effectively conduct interagency collaborations
specifically in pursuit of space exploration
and related scientific and engineering
objectives.
(B) An identification of any barriers or challenges
to implementing such authority, or otherwise to
managing the funding required to conduct joint programs
and award jointly funded grants and cooperative
agreements by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration with other Federal departments and
agencies so as to contribute to the missions of each
such department and agency to advance the shared
objectives of space exploration and related research
and education.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
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