It’s been years in the making, but today the Government of Canada signalled it would fully support the development of a domestic commercial space launch capability and necessary facilities. The first step, in the interim, and starting from today, would allow on a case-by-case basis, orbital launches from Canada.
Of course before any launches can happen there at least needs to be one spaceport. And next there needs to be a launch provider licensed to launch in Canada, whether they are domestic or foreign. We would not have reached this point if not for the efforts of several Canadian companies who have been working for years for this moment.
They include Maritime Launch Services who have been working since 2016 to build a spaceport in Nova Scotia, now called Spaceport Nova Scotia. They were present during today’s announcement at the Canadian Space Agency. Work on building basic infrastructure such as roads has begun as seen in the video below posted to their Twitter account yesterday.
Come for a drive with us and see where our Horizontal Integration Facility will be built at Spaceport Nova Scotia ????️???????????? pic.twitter.com/5KINmXGMOl
— Maritime Launch Services (@maritimelaunch) January 19, 2023
But it’s not just Maritime Launch Services (MLS) working to make commercial launch happen in Canada. Also in attendance for today’s announcement was Montreal based NorthStar Earth & Space who would eventually like to see satellites for their space situational satellite constellation launched from Canadian soil.
Then there are at least half a dozen startup launch companies such as Montreal area Reaction Dynamics who want to launch from Canada. Like MLS, Reaction Dynamics has been working to get to this point for six years already. They’ve signed a letter of intent with MLS to use Spaceport Nova Scotia and they are hopping that by the end of this year they can perform their first suborbital test launch in Nova Scotia.
Omar Alghabra, the Minister of Transport outlined the three key points of today’s announcement. They include;
- In the interim, which is expected to last three years, the Government of Canada intends to enable commercial space launch activities in Canada that are safe, secure and environmentally sustainable, under existing legislation and regulations, on a case-by-case basis.
- During the interim period, Transport Canada will work in close collaboration with other federal departments and agencies to develop robust regulatory requirements, safety standards and licensing conditions necessary for commercial space launch in Canada.
- In addition, the Minister of Transport will establish an interdepartmental review process to leverage expertise from other departments and agencies to ensure that any launch is considered and approved in a manner consistent with domestic legislation, international treaties and conventions, and national security and foreign policy interests of Canada.
Also participating in the press conference was Canadian Space Agency president Lisa Campbell who announced that “the Canadian Space Agency will soon be launching consultations with Canadians to receive their views on regulation of space activities such as in-space servicing, space resource utilization, and satellite constellations.” No details were available on when the consultation would start and the extent of their scope.
Others present included Canadian astronaut, David Saint-Jacques, Brian Gallant, CEO of Space Canada, and Mike Mueller, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada. And of course there were a few Members of Parliament including Marc Garneau representing Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Sherry Romanado representing Longueuil-Charles-LeMoyne as well as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Annie Koutrakis.
Garneau, of course, was Canada’s first astronaut in space and the past president of the Canadian Space Agency. He also served as Minister of Transport between November 2015 to January 2021 before Omar Alghabra took over the portfolio. He was instrumental in helping lay the groundwork for today’s announcement.
After the announcement the participants fielded several questions. When asked about the need for launch capability and the demand for it, Minister Alghabra attempted to field the question saying “Canada has been receiving requests not only from domestic Canadian companies, but from companies from around the world.” He then went on to say that Canada didn’t have a framework in place to make this happen. “We didn’t have this framework that we announced today. So we know that there’s an appetite, domestically and internationally to launch from Canada. And today’s announcement is a strong signal to invite those who are interested to come on in and take advantage of the advantages that Canada has.” He then passed the question to Space Canada CEO Brian Gallant who likely provided the best context for reporters not used to covering the economics of space.
Gallant answered saying “I think the minister answered it perfectly. And then the only thing I would add is the idea that we have an emerging industry that some suggest will be right up until 2040 about a trillion dollars per year. So there’s going to be lots of demand in the years to come and for decades to come. So setting us up right now as a country to be able to compete when it comes to launch, is a very important piece for the the Canadian space sector to succeed and create the economic opportunity that the global sector represents over those years. Also with the potential for geopolitical tensions in the future as well. It’s important for us to have this type of capacity domestically as well. And that means for economic security and for many other other reasons. We want to be able to have that capacity. And of course, we believe that there are Canadian companies that will be interested in launching here, but also international ones has already been discussed. So we’re very happy. This is an important step today to be able to ensure that we’re an end to end industry, trying to see the massive economic opportunities that the space sector represents for years.”
From a historical perspective today’s announcement finally fulfills one of the recommendations from the Special Study No 1, Upper Atmosphere and Space Programs in Space, known as the Chapman Report which was released in 1967. The recommendation was titled Orbital Launch Vehicles and stated;
Canada will, within the next decade, need to launch small scientific satellites at a rate which will justify supply from Canadian sources.
Therefore we recommend:
(a) the initiation of a design and cost study for a small-satellite launch vehicle and related facilities for Canadian use.
While Canada did build suborbital launch vehicles and did build the Churchill launch facility, launching an orbital launch vehicle never took place. 56 years later the green light has been given so that Canada can launch orbital vehicles and from a Canadian spaceport.