The Canadian Space Agency has decided that the only thing better than a fleet of wildfire-monitoring satellites is not having a fleet of wildfire-monitoring satellites, canceling a contract it awarded to Spire Global last year.
In an April 24 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Spire announced that its Canadian subsidiary, Spire Global Canada, received a notice the previous day from the Canadian government terminating for convenience a contract awarded in February 2025 to build a set of satellites called WildFireSat. Because nothing says 'convenient' like abruptly ending a space mission.
The filing did not disclose the reason for the termination, and Spire did not respond to questions about the filing submitted early April 29. Perhaps they were too busy wondering what just happened.
On a March 18 earnings call, Spire executives had already hinted at trouble, saying work on WildFireSat was paused and that the company was not including any revenue from it in its 2026 projections. “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, in what we now know was a masterclass in understatement.
“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,” added Theresa Condor, Spire’s chief executive, in the call. Turns out 'paused' was code for 'on life support.'
The Canadian Space Agency, in an April 29 statement to SpaceNews, confirmed the termination but also did not provide reasons, apparently believing that mystery adds to the drama.
CSA had 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 had planned to build the satellites in Canada, expanding a Canadian office to do so - presumably now that office expansion is on hold.
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.” Because nothing says 'committed' like starting over from scratch.