With the first Canadian Space Launch Conference upon us, many questions will be asked and SpaceQ will be onsite to cover the news and pass along what we learn. For this story we’re asking the question, how many spaceports does Canada need?
There are several answers to the question depending on your perspective. So let’s dig in.
The Global Spaceport Alliance
At the moment we’re in the nascent phase of developing a spaceport marketplace and it was in 2015 that an industry group was created to support spaceport efforts globally. That group is the Global Spaceport Alliance (GSA) which now represents 38 active and under development facilities.
Along with its 38 members, the GSA has 50 associate, government, non-profits and academic members.
Many of the member spaceports are in the early stages of facilities development and have support from various government levels.
According to the GSA website the lone Canadian member is Maritime Launch Services (MLS) who have been developing Spaceport Nova Scotia.
The economic case
If we look at the question strictly from an economic perspective, the answer is really quite simple, whatever the market will support.
Canada has not been developing and building many satellites, be they commercial, government or academic. The five year average is 11 per year and that includes 14 CubeSats launched for universities under the Canadian Space Agency Canadian CubeSat Project.
However, as we recently wrote, the number of Canadian satellites launching in the next two years will grow substantially. Primarily for new satellite constellations including Telesat Lightspeed which has MDA Space as the prime contractor. Unfortunately, all of the projected Canadian satellites scheduled for launch in the next two years will be launched by providers outside of Canada. That’s because there is no launch facility in Canada ready to support these launches and no indigenous launch capability.
That’s about to change, as there are two spaceports efforts underway, one in Nova Scotia, the other in Newfoundland. MLS can currently support small launch vehicles if you bring an integrated or mobile platform, while NordSpace, who are developing what they call Spaceport Canada in Newfoundland, are still in the design phase and have yet to start an environmental review which takes time.
I’ll also note that there is talk about reviving the Manitoba Churchill Rocket Research Range built in 1954 and which was used for suborbital launches before being abandoned by 1985. A commercial effort tried but failed to revive the Range in the late 90’s and attempted only one suborbital launch on April 28, 1998, exactly 27 years ago today.
There are also several efforts underway to build Canadian orbital launch vehicles. The most well known is from Reaction Dynamics (RDX) based in the Montreal area. They made headlines last week when it was announced that they had won the $1 million prize in the Meet the Drapers startup competition.
While there are several other Canadian startups attempting to develop an orbital launch vehicle, the only other well known commercial effort is NordSpace. They are still in the early development phase. They are also the organizer of the Canadian Space Launch Conference.
Aside from launching domestic satellites with made in Canada launch vehicles, MLS has been courting foreign providers to launch from their facility. They’ve signed several letters of interest. And it’s possible a foreign launch vehicle will be the first to send a payload to orbit from Canada. That’s because most spaceports globally are in the early development phase. That, and congestion at U.S. spaceports. The congestion has resulted in a launch capacity shortage at U.S. spaceports even as demand increases.
The strategic case
This is where it gets interesting. Canada’s relationship with the U.S. at the moment is not the best its been. Of course that’s an understatement. An unprovoked trade war with a protectionist President running a chaotic government, mostly by executive decree, has shaken the financial markets and sent shockwaves across the globe.
While the case has already seemingly been made that it’s within Canada’s best interest to have both indigenous launch capability and a spaceport, the case is now being reinforced by recent actions of the U.S.
Canada’s been on a path towards this end already. And in recognition of that, the government began to overhaul, albeit slowly, rules and regulations surrounding domestic launch. Then the government began the process of creating a new treaty with the U.S. for a Technology Safeguards Agreement that would allow U.S. companies to come to Canada and use launch facilities here. That agreement is now essentially complete.
The question that should be asked now, is what’s the next step in making Canada a launching state?
Government as a customer and financial supporter
Canada will be a launching state. And it can be commercially successful. But it will require the government to step up as a customer and provide some financial backing to at least one spaceport.
MLS has been developing Spaceport Nova Scotia for 8 years. Their plans were derailed in 2022 when Russia invaded the Ukraine and their Ukrainian partner eventually couldn’t follow through with their plans.
But since then if they had received more financial support, launches would already be scheduled, including for this year. As an example, RDX will conduct its first suborbital test launch later this year from Australia, not Canada. The reason is simple, Spaceport Nova Scotia doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to support RDX’s needs.
The capital markets have not supported MLS yet. With not enough venture investing, the company has been very slowly moving things forward.
Now, considering the years MSL and the government have been each moving Canada towards bocoming a launching state, it seems appropriate now that the government step up and go the distance with MLS. Commit to being a customer, commit to some financial support to get the spaceport operational. It’s in Canada’s strategic interest to do so.
Should another Canadian spaceport make it past the drawing board and start building infrastructure, the government could also consider being at least a customer of the spaceport.
Which brings me to the Department of National Defence (DND). It seems natural with the state of affairs that Canada allocate more resources to support Canada’s space forces represented by 3 Canadian Space Division within the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
While the Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) recently had a trio of satellites launched as part of Project Grey Jay, it’s only a matter of time before DND will need, want, to have more satellites under its umbrella, rather than relying mostly on the U.S.
So how many spaceports does Canada need? Right now, it’s one, and it should be Spaceport Nova Scotia as it’s the only one realistically close to being operational and has the best geographic location to support a wide variety of launches. It would have multiple uses from defence and civil launches for the government, and a growing commercial base.
