Canadian companies race to launch rockets into orbit from home soil — a first

On September 29, 1962, Canada’s Alouette I satellite launched atop an American rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. On that day, Canada became just the third country — behind the former Soviet Union and the United States — to design and build its own satellite.

Since then, we’ve been an active country in the space sector: We’ve built the Canadarm that helped deploy satellites from the space shuttle; then came Canadarm 2 that built the International Space Station; we’ve put hardware on rovers that are trundling across a dusty Martian landscape and on satellites travelling to far-off asteroids.

But the one thing that has never been done is launching rockets into orbit from home soil.

Two companies — NordSpace and Reaction Dynamics — are looking to change that.

While it may not seem like a pressing issue, they say it will create jobs and increase sovereignty at a time when Canada is seeking more independence.

“I think sovereign capabilities in general are very important and true sovereign access to space capability means launching Canadian-made payload satellites from Canadian-made rockets from a Canadian spaceport. And if we don’t have any one of those three, is it really a sovereign capability?” said Rahul Goel, founder and CEO of NordSpace.

“So that’s why building the rockets, building the satellites, building the actual launch site is really critical for us to ensure that this becomes a Canadian capability.” 

NordSpace is preparing to launch its 4.5 metre tall Taiga rocket next week from Newfoundland. It will be a suborbital launch, meaning it won’t orbit Earth. But after another suborbital launch over the next year, it plans to send its far larger Tundra rocket — 26 metres tall — into orbit in 2027. The rocket will be able to launch up to 500 kg into space. 

Bashar Elzein is the founder and CEO of Reaction Dynamics.

His company has similar plans to launch a rocket into orbit. It recently partnered with Maritime Launch Services (MLS) in Nova Scotia — Canada’s first commercial spaceport — ensuring they have a location from which to launch.

And like NordSpace, it’s all Canadian.

“Everything is not only built in Canada, everything is made at our factory,” Elzein said. “Our goal is to produce more than 90 per cent of the rocket components in-house and in our factory.”

He believes strongly that the rocket launch industry isn’t just about sovereignty, but also about creating a space economy.

“As an industrialized country … we need a way to access that orbital economy to benefit from it. There’s going to be anywhere between 600 to 1,000 jobs created launching Canadian satellites,” he said. 

And while he’s in competition with NordSpace, he’s not worried.

“I believe firmly that the product we’re putting forth will be extremely competitive. At the end of the day, Canada needs to have a launch capabilities. If we have one company competing, two companies, three companies … it’s really getting to the point where that capability can be achieved and delivered,” he said.

Steve Matier, founder of MLS, agrees. It’s part of the reason he started the company.

“At the end of the day, we need to be able to look to and depend on ourselves to put our own satellites in orbit. We don’t know what the world will look like geopolitically. We didn’t think we would be where we were today, six, seven, nine months ago,” said Steve Matier, founder of MLS.

Initially, the MLS spaceport in Canso, N.S., had partnered with Ukraine to provide the country with launch capabilities. However, the ongoing war means that’s no longer a near-term option.

But Matier said that the company is now looking at partnering with others, such as NATO and European partners, while still also maintaining a relationship with the U.S.

“So there’s a lot of good reasons for us being able to have our own but also to be able to offer to our allies.”

Can Canada get rockets into space? We’re about to find out

Even though there wasn’t the capability to launch rockets from Canada in the past, Canadian students have consistently won rocket competitions in the U.S.

In 2018, Launch Canada was founded, stepping in to fill that void. It is a national non-profit organization that helps to advance rocketry in Canada. It also brings students from around the country to compete in launches and more.  

“Before the competition here, they had to go outside to do the test. Now … they will be more and more able to do the test in Canada,” said Jean-Claude Piedboeuf, vice-president of the Canadian Space Agency. “So even if there is international competition, it will be significantly easier for them to develop their technology, and maybe we can have and attract the competition in Canada if we have the ability to launch from Canada.”

Goel and his team come from that pool of students.

“A company like NordSpace … really only exists because of how tight-knit the student community, the amateur community, has become,” Goel said. “We punch so far above our weight internationally. So we really pull from that talent.”

Oleg Khalimonov is a rocket engineer who graduated from Concordia University two years ago. His most recent accomplishment was leading a team of students from the university to launch the most powerful rocket ever built by students — called Starsailor — from Canadian soil.

It launched on Aug. 15 from Cree territory, 250 kilometres north of Mistissini, Que. 

“We’ve actually written a Cree name for the rocket because we’re launching out of Mistissini,” Khalimonov said. “So we named the rocket Chicabish, which is a hero from a Cree folklore. He’s also called star boy.”

Concordia University students launch rocket

Now that Canada is actively pursuing its own rockets and launch capabilities, he’s optimistic about the future. And he believes that perhaps launch capabilities don’t only have to reside in the private sector.

“Maybe … we can actually develop an orbital space program within a university. Could you imagine that a university is capable of launching their own satellites?” he said. “This would be the world’s first. Canada can become a hub of space research.”

Elzein is a also big fan of keeping Canadian talent at home.

“I find a lot of pride having brought back friends of mine that completed PhDs abroad. We used to study together as students, we built rockets together as students, we won competitions together as students,” he said. 

“We have amazing talent in Canada. The education we have, the universities we have, it’s outstanding…. and you want to be able to give those engineers a path for their dreams and their ambitions.” 

As for Goel, he’s happy to see the recent rise in Canadian pride.

“We used to fly our flag real high and talk about sovereign capabilities, and people used to think that was a little strange. Suddenly it’s a cool thing to do,” he said. 

“And, you know, we welcome that for sure. And we’re glad people, Canadians, really are realizing why investing in Canada, building in Canada, is as important as we think it is.”