The Canadian Space Agency has terminated the $73 million contract to build WildFireSat, the wildfire-monitoring satellite constellation promised in Budget 2022, before a single satellite was designed in detail, according to a government response tabled in the House of Commons on November 4.

The contract was awarded on January 20, 2025, to exactEarth Ltd. and assigned the next day to Spire Global Canada. It covered a preliminary design phase and a detailed design phase for a constellation of seven satellites carrying infrared and visible cameras. The agency terminated it "for convenience" on April 23, while the project was still in the preliminary phase.

The only formal milestone the contractor completed was a payload requirements review in November 2025. A spacecraft requirements review was never finished, and procurement of some long-lead parts was started but not completed. The detailed design phase never began, and no satellite was built or launched.

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The government says the termination was not for default and that WildFireSat has not been cancelled. The Canadian Space Agency is "reassessing the implementation approach." The cost of settling the terminated contract is still being negotiated by Public Services and Procurement Canada.

The response, to a question from Conservative MP Blake Richards, shows $100 million allocated to the Canadian Space Agency for the mission, of which $10.1 million has been spent. Natural Resources Canada has $65.4 million and has spent $7.8 million, including work to prepare the Prince Albert Satellite Station for a WildFireSat antenna. Its contracts include a $6.8 million amendment for a new antenna and $2.3 million to rehabilitate the station's access road. Environment and Climate Change Canada has spent $851,927 of its $3.5 million.

Natural Resources Canada also paid $81,900 to translate WildFireSat training material into Plains Cree.

Budget 2022 provided $169.9 million for WildFireSat, with funding running to 2033-34. Canada has gone through two more wildfire seasons since the contract was signed.