Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) has been awarded a two-year, $28 million contract by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to advance hyperspectral microwave sounding technology for weather forecasting applications.

Under the agreement, Spire will build and qualify a satellite and hyperspectral microwave sounder payload through flight readiness, tailored to an orbit designed to support NOAA's weather forecasting requirements. The work will include analysis of hyperspectral microwave observations on numerical weather prediction and resilience to radio frequency interference. Operational capability is targeted to begin no later than 2030.

The contract follows a separate $3 million extension NOAA awarded Spire earlier in August 2026, focused on evaluating data from an existing demonstrator across a range of atmospheric conditions and seasonal weather patterns. Spire launched its first hyperspectral microwave sounding demonstrator in January 2026 to validate the technology in a compact satellite form factor.

"By bringing this advanced capability to a commercial satellite platform, we can deliver richer observations of the atmosphere at the scale and speed needed to make a meaningful difference in forecasting," said Theresa Condor, Chief Executive Officer at Spire Global.

The new agreement expands on the demonstrator work, moving the technology beyond on-orbit demonstration toward the scale required for operational weather observations, according to a press release from the company.