Out of this world: Spire Global CEO talks sustainability in space

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Oct 10, 2025

Theresa Condor, Co-founder and CEO of Spire Global, leads the charge on sustainability in space with her innovative satellite technology. She discusses how these wine-bottle-sized satellites provide critical data for climate, weather, and security, revolutionizing multiple industries. Theresa highlights the rapid advancements in satellite capabilities and the growing need for governance to support sustainable exploration. She also emphasizes cross-sector collaboration with the Sustainable Markets Initiative to ensure responsible practices in the evolving space landscape.

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INSIGHT

Small Satellites, Big Data Impact

Spire Global uses a constellation of very small satellites to collect Earth data across domains like climate and security.
Miniaturized satellites enable high-coverage, multi-purpose sensing that scales data availability rapidly.

INSIGHT

Diverse Earth Applications

Spire's data supports weather forecasting, soil moisture monitoring, aviation tracking and contrail research.
These measurements feed national meteorological centers and private customers to improve forecasting and risk management.

ANECDOTE

Founding Driven By Miniaturization

Spire was founded in 2012 to exploit rapid miniaturization and coverage-driven satellite uses.
Founders targeted small sensors and software-upgradeable constellations rather than single large spacecraft.

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It's World Space Week and in this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we're looking at sustainability on the final frontier in an interview with Spire Global CEO Theresa Condor.

Spire Global uses satellites the size of wine bottles to collect data in space that helps solve problems on Earth, ranging from climate to weather forecasting to global security. Theresa says use cases for the company's technology are expanding rapidly as satellite technology advances "at an exponential pace."

"We're seeing something like 10x improvements in technology every five years," she says.

This rapid growth means the need for good governance and sustainability strategies is rising. Spire Global is a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) and Theresa explains how the group is focused on sustainability in space through its Astra Carta initiative, which aims to shape a future of responsible and sustainable space exploration, development and cooperation.

"People are trying to figure out what is the right level of regulation that continues to protect the space environment," she says, while also allowing innovation to flourish.

This episode is the latest in our Terra Carta Series of the All Things Sustainable podcast in collaboration with the SMI. The SMI is a network of over 250 global CEOs across finance and industry, including S&P Global. SMI facilitates private sector diplomacy with the ambition of making sustainability the driving force of global markets and value creation. Throughout 2025, we're interviewing SMI member CEOs from around the world and across industries about how they're approaching sustainability challenges and opportunities.

Listen to all the episodes in the Terra Carta Series of the All Things Sustainable podcast: Terra Carta Series | S&P Global

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1 and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

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