On November 13, 2024 Maritime Launch Services (MLS) announced its intent of a private placement of a minimum $1 million. Yesterday the company announced the closing of $1.6 million in financing.
MLS said it had “secured agreements and regulatory approval” for the financing at $0.05 per share and that $331,525 had been previously released.
The company also said it “has received conditional regulatory approval to close the two-year extension agreement (previously announced as an agreement in principle on November 13, 2024) with the holders of its outstanding convertible debentures dated May 7, 2021 (as amended) and the holders of its outstanding convertible debentures dated December 7, 2023. This will extend the maturity date of all outstanding convertible debentures from December 7, 2024, to December 7, 2026.”
Struggling for funds
The company has struggled to raise serious venture capital funding even though all levels of government are supportive of their efforts.
In part this is because the company was forced to change it’s strategy after the war in Ukraine started three years ago which sidelined its Ukrainian partners.
The shift included a phased approach focusing on getting regulatory changes in Canada in place, advocating for a Technology Safeguards Agreement with the United States, supporting small launch vehicles to start with, and adding ground stations from third party providers at Spaceport Nova Scotia for added revenue.
This strategy is being executed but has been slow to develop, in part a result of few resources. MLS continues to stump for funding.
On the development side, MLS CEO Steve Matier told SpaceQ recently he expects things to ramp up a bit as they prepare for their first orbital launch in 2026. And sources tell us at least two companies are in the running to be the first to launch.
Space defence and sovereign launch capability
In Canada as with the United States, a greater focus on space defence has many thinking that it’s in Canada’s interest to have sovereign launch capability. And now with a tariff war started by the United States, the chorus for made in Canada has begun.
This includes industry group Space Canada CEO Brian Gallant who spoke about defence and sovereign launch capability in a recent Q&A with SpaceQ.
And while efforts are underway to develop a made in Canada launch capability with Reaction Dynamics seemingly getting closer to that reality, Canada still needs a spaceport.
History lesson
On the issue of sovereign launch capability, history has a lesson for our new generation of politicians.
We wrote in 2011 a story titled Is Canadian Sovereignty at Risk by a Lack of an Indigenous Satellite Launch Capability? It’s worth reading to see how much has changed yet remains the same with respect to sovereign launch capability. One section, Good Friends with Issues, recounts in part the story of Radarsat-2 which was launched on a Russian rocket after the United States reneged on its commitment to launch the satellite citing the issue that MDA would be able to commercially sell synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. This is of course laughable now, as SAR data is widely available commercially. But it does point to the current issue. With a tariff war underway and the Trump MAGA team unleashed, what if the United States considered a moratorium of launching foreign payloads, or certain payloads? As far fetched as that seems, could anyone imagine what the Trump administration has done to date in their second go in the White House?
