Tag Archives: Startup Files

SkyWatch today announced that it had raised $4 million in its seed round of funding to continue development of its Earth Observation platform EarthCache.

Depending on who you talked to at the Canadian Space Society annual Space Summit you might come away thinking optimistically about the future of Canada’s space sector or that we’re on precipice about to fall off the cliff.

If it is said that innovation of defence excellence is the Canadian Department of National Defence’s research and development goal, then it could be noted that Canadian space industry “start-ups” may possibly provide an answer to the space capability requirements that have been listed in the Department’s recent defence policy document.

The space industry is, quite literally, taking off. Commercial, for-profit actors mark the dawn of a new age of space – one pioneered not by governments, but by private sector trailblazers pushing the development of human space activity to new heights.

Maritime Launch Services (MLS) will announce today that it has selected a site in the Guysborough Municipality near Canso and Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia over 13 other prospective locations for its new commercial launch complex, or spaceport, and expects to break ground on construction within a year.

Hey, am I at the right conference? A first-time visitor might be forgiven for feeling a little confused. There was certainly no shortage of bleeding-edge science and engineering – asteroid mining, anyone? – but for much of this three-day event, the air was abuzz with talk of bootstrapping, venture capital funding (or lack thereof), pivoting, culture-building, and various and sundry other facets of the startup …

Kepler Communications announced today it has selected Innovative Space Logistics B.V. (ISL), part of the Innovative Solutions in Space (ISIS) group of the Netherlands, as their launch contractor, and that their first satellite will launch on an Indian  Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket this November.

It seems every couple of years another group comes along claiming they’ll setup a spaceport in Canada with Nova Scotia being the preferred location. The latest is Maritime Launch Services (MLS), a newly registered company in Nova Scotia with roots in the U.S and the Ukraine. What sets it apart from recent previous efforts is the experienced principals involved.

Space is hard. While startups success rates are slowly increasing in low earth orbit (LEO), it’s even harder for startups looking beyond low earth orbit. In fact, no company with the goal of operating a commercial enterprise near or on the moon, can call themselves a success, yet. But just maybe we’ll the emergence of one as a the result of the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released details this week of applicants seeking to build a variety of satellite constellations. The most dramatic application came from SpaceX who are looking to build 4,425 small satellites to be used in low earth orbit. From the Canadian perspective, there were two applications, that of Kepler Communications who are based out of Toronto, and Ottawa’s Telesat.