Reaction Dynamics Labs Inc. (RDX) who recently closed a $14M Series A funding round and won $1M from investors on “Meet the Drapers,” has signed an agreement with Maritime Launch Services (MLS) for a stake in the company and announced it will launch its Aurora-8 small satellite orbital rocket from Spaceport Nova Scotia which is owned and operated by MLS.
In a news release issued by MLS the transaction is valued at $1.7M and has two parts, an equity investment and a launch agreement. SpaceQ spoke with both Stephen Matier and Bachar Elzein to learn more about the deal.
RDX equity investment
RDX will invest $1,025,952 in common shares of Maritime Launch Services in the form of a private placement in 12 instalments of $85,496 each. The price of the first instalment is $0.05 per share. The first instalment was made at the time of signing and the remaining instalments will be made quarterly starting on September 30, 2025.
MLS said subsequent instalments “will be based upon the weighted average price of MLS shares at the time of each subsequent instalment, with the minimum price being $0.05 unless Maritime Launch otherwise issues shares at a lower price.”
The idea of making an investment in MLS is not a recent, Elzein told us. In fact, the idea goes back to when they were introduced to MLS in 2017. However, with the recent closing of their Series A funding round it became an idea RDX decided to act on.
Elzein told us there are two reasons for making the investment. The first is that it secures “a spot to launch our very first orbital rocket,” with Elzein adding “we believe in their vision” and so wanted to make an investment. That second factor had to do with all the work, the heavy lifting, MLS has done to date, to build a spaceport from the ground up. For MLS and RDX, Spaceport Nova Scotia is part of a long term plan to have a viable, stable multi-use launch complex supported by and supporting a growing space ecosystem in Canada. The heavy lifting done by MLS included pushing forward regulatory changes to allow meaningful sovereign launch, going through the licensing, permits, safety regulations, environmental assessment and engineering development.
And it may not be a one-time investment. The door is open for a possible larger stake in MLS.
For MLS, which had to pivot its business plan after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and it when it became clear that their Ukrainian partners would not be able to provide a medium-lift launch vehicle, having an investor and anchor launch partner in RDX will help it in creating an operational spaceport in Canada.
Launch agreement
MLS said the Pathfinder Launch Agreement would see RDX launch the maiden voyage of its Aurora-8 small satellite orbital vehicle “on or about Q3 2028” as part of a “one-time exclusive agreement,” referring to an unspecified launch cost. While we don’t know what the MLS pricing is for a launch of a small satellite launch vehicle, we do know that the “one-time exclusive agreement” discounted cost is approximately $680,000 based on the $1.7M agreement value.
RDX will have “exclusive use of a designated launchpad,” the third to be built at Spaceport Nova Scotia and the first dedicated to a customer. After a “successful pathfinder launch, both parties intend to enter into a multi-year Facility Usage Agreement.” MLS added that the “Terms of the Facility Usage Agreement are subject to completion of definitive documentation.”
With respect to the dedicated launch pad for RDX, Matier said RDX is now collaborating on an Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) MLS has been developing.
Matier also said that while RDX will occupy a third launch pad they have a potential “fourth identified and a pretty strong client base building.”
MLS’s stock price is up today on the news.
RDX launches
On the matter of launches, RDX will launch its suborbital rocket Aurora-1 first from Australia as we previously wrote about. That launch was scheduled for no earlier than late December but Elzein said it will now be sometime in Q1 2026 and depends in part on the wildfire season in the Koonibba Test Range in southern Australia.
Of interest though is the fact that Elzein said the Aurora-1 could see more launches before the Aurora-8 launches. He would not go into specifics but did say that “there will be very strong demand on the capabilities that this rocket can deliver, specifically with regards to research on hypersonics for customers.” As well, the AFSS system they are now working with MLS on could be tested on Aurora-1.
RDX said that interest in the Aurora-1 as a hypersonics test vehicles comes from “discussions we’ve (RDX) had with NATO countries.” Elzein pointed out the fact that they have been part of NATO Diana (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic).