S. 1898 · 119th Congress

ORBITS Act of 2025

Introduced on May 22, 2025 by John W. Hickenlooper (D-CO). 3 cosponsors, 2 of them from another party. Latest action (Jun 18, 2026): Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 440.

Stage
Reported by committee
Introduced
May 22, 2025
Cosponsors
3
2 from the other party
Policy area
Science, Technology, Communications
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to establish a demonstration program for the active remediation of orbital debris and to require the development of uniform orbital debris standard practices in order to support a safe and sustainable orbital environment, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Advanced technology and technological innovations
  • Congressional oversight
  • Economic performance and conditions
  • Government information and archives
  • International scientific cooperation
  • Licensing and registrations
  • Radio spectrum allocation
  • Research and development
  • Scientific communication
  • Spacecraft and satellites
  • Technology assessment

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Reported to Senate, Jun 18, 2026). Public domain.

Orbital Sustainability Act of 2025 or the ORBITS Act of 2025

This bill requires specified agencies to support research and develop guidance on the remediation of orbital debris (human-made space objects that are no longer in use and can harm active satellites and space activities).

Under the bill, the Department of Commerce must maintain a list of orbital debris that may be remediated to improve safety and sustainability in space. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) must establish a demonstration project to make competitive awards for research and development leading to the remediation of listed debris. NASA must ultimately select and partner with an entity to carry out a demonstration mission using technology capable of on-orbit remediation. After the first demonstration mission, NASA must report to Congress with recommendations to improve orbital debris remediation.

The bill also authorizes NASA and other relevant agencies to contract for orbital debris remediation services.

Separately, the National Space Council, in coordination with specified agencies, must update the existing U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices. This update must consider planned space systems (e.g., satellite constellations) and address factors including collision risk and post-mission disposal of space systems. The updated standard practices must be used to inform future federal regulations related to orbital debris and international discussions related to nongovernment space activities.

Finally, Commerce, in coordination with specified federal entities, must facilitate the development of standard practices for coordinating space traffic and promote their adoption and use for domestic and international space missions.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

John W. HickenlooperD-COSponsor

Democrats · 1

Republicans · 2

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. May 22, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. May 22, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  3. Feb 12, 2026 · SenateCommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
  4. Jun 18, 2026Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz without amendment. With written report No. 119-128.
  5. Jun 18, 2026 · SenateCommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz without amendment. With written report No. 119-128.
  6. Jun 18, 2026 · SenatePlaced on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 440.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc.5 reports
    $3.2M reported (all issues)
  2. ASTROSCALE U.S., INC.4 reports
    $80K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: ASTROSCALE US INC$203.5K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.