Markham, Ontario based NordSpace finished their first test of a flight-ready rocket engine on Feb. 8 with the plan of launching to suborbital space later in the year. In an interview with SpaceQ, CEO Rahul Goel shared some details on funding, fuels and more.
NordSpace fired their Hadfield-10 engine – named after retired Canadian Space Agency Chris Hadfield – for 10 seconds at an industrially zoned area north of the city, CEO Rahul Goel told SpaceQ.
NordSpace will do further tests of that engine type this month, aiming to reach a minute of continuous firing time. Once that’s accomplished, they will install the engine on their Taiga suborbital rocket that will send several test science payloads to space on its first flight. Incidentally, the Hadfield series of engines includes larger and more powerful types that would be used on future rockets for NordSpace, and work is ongoing on those as well.
When and where the first rocket is launch is still, so to speak, up in the air. Goel said NordSpace has been working very closely with Transport Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and related authorities as Canada seeks to streamline its launch regulations. There has been movement behind the scenes since the Canadian government promised to update the regulations in January 2023, Goel added, although it will be government officials that make announcements when the timing is right.
“Transport Canada specifically has been working very closely with us to ensure that we have a safe flight and that everything is up to spec,” Goel said. “They’re working very hard and diligently on commercial launch regulations, and we’re very excited to be working with them to define the future commercial launch in Canada.”
NordSpace is part of a burgeoning Canadian space industry looking to launch independently, and as soon as technically feasible. CubeSat launches have been ongoing in the United States for more than 20 years, with a large industry now of small rockets to support the breadbox-sized satellites going into space.
Despite the entry of companies like SpaceX or Rocket Lab, however, the demand remains strong and rocket space scarce – so much so that Goel said companies are often told they will need to wait until 2027 or beyond to get payloads in orbit. Added to that complexity is the international licensing piece; any Canadian hardware that crosses the border would be subject to trade regulations, export costs and extra time. So there is a growing drive to launch within our borders.
Nova Scotia’s Maritime Launch Services (MLS) is building a complex in Canso, a few hours northeast of Halifax, that aims to bring orbital launch capabilities to our country in the very near future. MLS is also working closely with Canadian government to achieve the goal, not to mention local Indigenous groups and the fisheries industry to mitigate environmental impacts. NordSpace may launch with MLS, Goel said, but there are other options the company is considering and is not yet comfortable with discussing publicly.
Goel, a serial entrepreneur working in space for more than a decade, is a former junior engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and founded the Robotics for Space Exploration based out of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies. He also is the founder of PheedLoop, an engagement platform for trade shows and conferences.
Goel is fully funding NordSpace for the time being, but considering other opportunities to bring in money. The Canadian Space Agency recently released its latest Space Technology Development (STD) program opportunity, for example; STD “supports innovation for the growth of the Canadian space industry and to reduce technological unknowns, according to agency documentation.
He acknowledged NordSpace has privilege in being able to access his private funding from the beginning, which has allowed the company to scale up from three employees a year ago to 10 today, along with a growth in suppliers. Space companies in Canada often have to seek funding, meaning “they’re hanging by a thread, often on government life support,” he said. “We’ve right out the gate gone heavy on private funding, and that’s allowed us to skip a lot of steps, make large capital-intensive investments early on, and get the ball moving very quickly.”
NordSpace does most of its work on in-house manufacturing, in a bid to get products to market faster. The company’s additive engine can be made in house, and the company also uses only Canadian suppliers (the list has not yet been released) to provide opportunities for manufacturing companies looking to add space to their portfolio. Goel also pointed to the amount of in-house expertise the company has, which has been a boost even though NordSpace is only about two years old.
The Hadfield series of engines is distinct from the competition in a few ways, Goel said. It is a multifuel engine – designed to be compatible with multiple types, including a carbon-neutral fuel that NordSpace plans to use. The test of the Hadfield-10, he said, met several metrics of success – including that heat transfer is working correctly.
“This engine was designed from scratch,” he added, saying that it was made up in less than a year and that the company feels moving much faster than 10 to 15 years must be done given the global competition. “It really highlights the capability, not only for our team and our manufacturing ability, but also just how important it is that the launch industry worldwide is moving very fast.”
NordSpace plans to hire more people in the coming year, especially in manufacturing but also in areas like avionics and turbo pump technologies. The company is also working on its first 3U CubeSat satellite, which it plans to put on one of its flights in 2025.
“The intention behind this is that we’re trying to apply a lot of the same technologies that we’re using in our rockets for avionics, and putting that into satellite configuration, developing a common bus and board space that we can use and share among all our different technologies.”
NordSpace aren’t the only Canadian company hoping to do a suborbital launch this year, Montreal area based Reaction Dynamics is planning an attempt in Q4 of this year.