Leaf Space has completed its first ground station in Canada at Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso, N.S. in partnership with Maritime Launch Services.
The station handles S- and X-band signals, the radio frequencies commercial satellites commonly use for high-speed data downloads. The antenna, radome and supporting electronics are installed and active, Leaf Space said, and the site is now licensed and open to paying satellite customers following clearance from Canadian regulators.
Leaf Space signed the deal to build the station in September 2024. At the time, SpaceQ reported, the company expected it to be fully operational by early 2025
Leaf Space said its Canadian station extends its own network, which already serves customers in NATO countries and organizations flying European Union missions, to the Atlantic coast.
“Canada has been a clear priority for our global network, and Spaceport Nova Scotia gives our customers a strategically located gateway on North America’s Atlantic coast,” said Cristina Zanchi, Leaf Space’s chief executive. Robert Feierbach, president of Maritime Launch USA, said the finished station shows the spaceport can attract international space companies and “support critical space infrastructure” in Canada.
Neither company disclosed what the station cost to build. Leaf Space, founded in 2014, said the site joins a global network of ground stations it owns and operates directly, priced to customers by the minute. The company framed the addition as a step toward TreeNet, an “always-on” network it introduced in May that lets satellites in the same group relay data to each other, so one losing contact with a ground station can stay connected through another that hasn’t.
More SpaceQ coverage: Leaf Space · Maritime Launch Services