Spire Global has launched more than 200 satellites across 40-plus missions. Turning that constellation into recurring revenue is a different problem from building it. The company brought in an executive from the defense sector to lead the transition.
Celia Pelaz is the Chief Operating Officer of Spire Global (NYSE: SPIR), a space-to-cloud analytics company that operates one of the largest multi-purpose satellite constellations in low Earth orbit. She joined Spire in January 2025 from HENSOLDT AG, the German defense sensor technology company that was carved out of Airbus in 2017. At HENSOLDT, Pelaz served on the Management Board in roles spanning Head of the Spectrum Dominance and Airborne Solutions Division, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chief Operating Officer, with overlapping responsibilities across the portfolio. She was part of the leadership team during the company’s 2020 IPO and led major acquisitions and global market expansion. She holds a degree in Industrial Technical Engineering from the University of Valladolid.
At Spire, Pelaz oversees revenue and operations for a company that has shifted its business model. In April 2025, Spire sold its maritime analytics business to focus on its core strengths: weather data from GNSS radio occultation, aviation tracking, and space services. The company reported 2025 revenue of $71.6 million and projects growth exceeding 30 percent in 2026, driven by government contract momentum and backlog expansion. Remaining performance obligations exceeded $200 million as of the third quarter of 2025. Contracts include an $11.2 million NOAA deal for global GNSS-RO data and the NGA MagQuest geomagnetic mapping challenge, for which SatNews reported in April 2026 that Spire successfully deployed a specialized MagQuest satellite aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-16 mission.
The operational pivot at Spire reflects a broader maturation in the smallsat data market: the companies that survive are the ones that can convert constellation capacity into predictable government and enterprise revenue streams. SatNews examined the broader context of this transition in its coverage of what the SpaceX IPO changes for every satellite operator.
At SmallSat Europe, Pelaz speaks on the operational transition from constellation deployment to commercial scale in the European smallsat data market.
The satellites are in orbit. The margin question is what comes next.
