Photo: Spire Global.

Spire Global received a $6 million, year-long extension from NASA for the agency’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. Spire announced the extension on June 23. 

The CSDA allows NASA to acquire commercial Earth Observation (EO) data that supports its Earth science research. Spire was one of the original vendors of the CSDA program, and signed a similar contract extension last year, also valued at $6 million.  

The data Spire will provide includes Spire’s GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry data (GNSS-R), to measure sea ice, soil moisture, and ocean surface wind speed; atmospheric data for weather forecast models; space weather offering measurements of electron density and scintillation; and space domain awareness to correct errors in orbital drag models.

“The CSDA Program offers Earth observation data that is critical to the efforts of U.S. government agencies and researchers working to solve some of the biggest challenges we face, such as climate change,” said Chuck Cash, Vice President of Federal Sales, Spire. “The program is a great example of how partnership between the private and public sector can accelerate our path to building a better, more sustainable future.”