WASHINGTON — The Canadian Space Agency has canceled a contract it awarded last year to Spire Global to construct a fleet of wildfire-monitoring smallsats.
In an April 24 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Spire said its Canadian subsidiary, Spire Global Canada, received a notice the previous day from the Canadian government that it was terminating for convenience a contract awarded in February 2025 to build a set of satellites called WildFireSat.
The filing did not disclose the reason for terminating the contract, and Spire did not respond to questions about the filing submitted early April 29.
In a March 18 earnings call, Spire executives said work on WildFireSat was paused and that the company was not including any revenue from it in its projections for 2026. “We remain committed to the program and will provide an update when we have clarity on the path forward,” said Alison Engel, Spire’s chief financial officer.
“There’s not a ton that we’re able to say other than we’ve paused execution while we have discussions on the status with our partner, including around timing and requirements,” Theresa Condor, chief executive of Spire, said in the call.
The Canadian Space Agency, in an April 29 statement to SpaceNews, confirmed that the agency had terminated the contract, but also did not provide reasons for doing so.
CSA selected Spire for the WildFireSat project in February 2025, awarding it a contract worth 72 million Canadian dollars ($52.7 million) to build 10 cubesats equipped with infrared sensors from German company OroraTech.
Nine of the 8U cubesats were planned to launch in 2029 into a dusk-dawn sun-synchronous orbit to fill gaps in wildfire monitoring data from current satellite observations, with the 10th serving as a ground spare. Spire said it would build the satellites in Canada, expanding a Canadian office to do so.
CSA said in its statement it planned to continue the program in partnership with other government agencies, Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
“The Canadian Space Agency, in partnership with NRCan and ECCC, remains committed to delivering wildfire monitoring capability from space by 2029, and within the allocated budget,” CSA stated. “The Government of Canada will soon be engaging with industry and begin working closely with stakeholders on how best to advance the continued development of this important mission.”
