S3198-119

Introduced

To establish the National Institute for Space Research, and for other purposes.

119th Congress Introduced Nov 19, 2025

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

Authorizes NASA to establish a non-federal National Institute for Space Research to coordinate microgravity research, grants, and next-generation platform use beyond the ISS.

Who Benefits and How

Commercial space companies, research institutions, and government-funded microgravity projects could gain a new coordinating body, grants, and flight opportunities.

Who Bears the Burden and How

NASA and the institute's board would have to build a new governance, grant, conflict-of-interest, and coordination structure.

Key Provisions

  • Allows NASA to establish a National Institute for Space Research operated by a non-federal entity.
  • Creates a board-led governance structure with federal and expert members and conflict-of-interest rules.
  • Authorizes grants or cooperative agreements and coordination of research and flight opportunities on next-generation microgravity platforms.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Authorizes NASA to establish a non-federal National Institute for Space Research to coordinate microgravity research, grants, and next-generation platform use beyond the ISS.

Key Policy Areas

Science & Space, Education, Government Operations

Primary Purpose

Authorizes NASA to establish a non-federal National Institute for Space Research to coordinate microgravity research, grants, and next-generation platform use beyond the ISS.

Policy Domains

Science & Space Education Government Operations

Main Provisions

Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • Commercial space companies providing next-generation microgravity platforms
  • Research institutions and other entities conducting microgravity research
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • NASA and institute leadership building and overseeing the new structure
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Nov 19, 2025

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Luján, …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Commercial Space
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Commercial space companies providing next-generation microgravity platforms

Research & Science
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Research institutions and other entities eligible for institute-backed projects

Federal Administration
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

NASA and institute leadership standing up and overseeing the new entity

2/4
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Science & Space Education Government Operations
Actor Mappings
"the_institute"
→ National Institute for Space Research
"the_administrator"
→ Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

2 terms
"Institute" §section_2_institute

The National Institute for Space Research established under section 3.

"qualified national microgravity project" §section_2_qualified_project

A nongovernmental microgravity project reflecting U.S. priorities and using a next-generation platform.

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology