Maritime Launch Services (MLS) is launching a new commercial suborbital program called Dedicated Altitude Research and Testing (DART). Key to the program is the acquisition of a suborbital launch system.
In a news release, MLS stated that the new DART program would begin sometime in the second quarter of 2024. SpaceQ spoke with CEO Steve Matier who told us they are currently in the process of finalizing the details of the purchase of an unnamed suborbital launch system. Matier also confirmed that the acquisition is not the Magellan produced Black Brant system.
The DART program will offer researchers a variety of opportunities including “building and testing new concepts, high speed tracking, conducting research, and testing payloads intended for future orbital missions as well as upper atmospheric monitoring and sampling.”
The first launch of the DART program is designed to carry experiments totaling up to 15kg across two separate launch configurations.
The first commercial customer that has committed to participate is GALAXIA Mission Systems who are based in Nova Scotia. Earlier this year GALAXIA received a $1.7 million award under the Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program (STDP) for “the first software-defined Earth observation (EO) platform.” The platform is being incorporated in GALAXIA’s Möbius Constellation which will offer Space Sensors As A Service (SSAS).
MLS notes that for its initial suborbital launch, “GALAXIA will be testing Hydra, A self-contained computer system that is designed for high-G atmospheric environments where large-data processing in real-time is key. This simulates the environment that Hydra is designed for and operates in to support the next generation of aerospace and defense systems.”
MLS also stated that space is limited for the first two suborbital missions and that prospective clients either contact them directly of use their partner Precious Payloads online Launch.ctrl service to check for availability and book space.
The MLS journey in developing a viable commercial spaceport in Canada has had its up and downs over the course of its six year journey. It’s biggest challenge has been, and continues to be, the raising of the necessary capital for the development of the spaceport to support its partners medium lift launch vehicle, the Ukrainian designed Cyclone 4M rocket.
It did not help when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 which has slowed down the development of the Cyclone 4M. To their credit though, MLS has persisted and has incrementally been ticking off the items needed to make Spaceport Nova Scotia viable. Aside from the capital requirements, getting governments onboard politically, working with Department of Transportation to move forward the necessary regulatory changes, can be seen as important wins.
This new Dedicated Altitude Research and Testing (DART) program is a next step in its journey. In particular, this step is meant to generate some much needed revenue where none now exists. And it should be noted, that those seeking suborbital launches in Canada currently have to look beyond Canada’s border, primarily the US, when needing to launch a suborbital payload.