MDA Space has announced a $10M investment in Maritime Launch Services (MLS) to advance Canada’s sovereign launch capability and strengthen the country’s domestic space value chain.
The investment makes MDA Space an equity owner and strategic partner with MLS. As a result of the investment, MDA Space gains “the right to nominate one individual to sit on the board of Maritime Launch and pro-rata participatory rights in the future financings of the Spaceport (Nova Scotia)” per a press release from Maritime Launch. The $10M will contribute towards the acceleration of orbital launch operations and aim to provide domestic launch capability for commercial, civil, government and defence clients in Canada.
Since the company was created in 2017, Maritime Launch Services has faced numerous hurdles in their quest to provide sovereign launch capabilities for Canada—from gaining federal approval to pivoting their business model to an airport model (you bring your rocket, we’ll launch it) as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Eight years later, it appears that things are starting to click and MLS is gaining significant momentum.
Pending Transport Canada approval, MLS plans to launch the Barracuda hypersonic test platform (rocket) by the Dutch aerospace company T-Minus Engineering in mid-November on a sub-orbital mission. The mission aims to reach altitudes significantly above the Kármán line (a first for the MLS team) while achieving speeds over Mach 6. The mission aims to deploy scientific and educational payloads for various clients. This marks the second sub-orbital mission by MLS, as their first was in July 2023 where a team of students from York University launched their two-stage “Goose 3” rocket.
To anyone who follows the space industry, it should come as no surprise that plans changed. The mission was originally scheduled for October 2025, with T-Minus aiming to launch two suborbital vehicles with payloads. In an an e-mail exchange with spacebahd, MLS shared that the launch was delayed as “a European port strike caused brief delay in receiving the necessary launch cargo.” When asked what the payloads would include, T-Minus was not in a position to share information nor provide a definite date on the second launcher.
The funding announcement from MDA Space comes on the heels of a $10M commitment from Export Development Canada on Oct 24, 2025 to accelerate the development of Spaceport Nova Scotia and its first orbital launch. The $10M senior credit facility will focus on Spaceport Nova Scotia’s next phase of construction for launch pad and infrastructure development. Per their news release, MLS said that $5M of the funds would be available at closing. In August 2025, MLS signed an agreement with Montréal-based Reaction Dynamics (RDX) to invest $1.025M into MLS over 12 installments. The agreement also included a launch agreement for RDX’s Aurora-8 small satellite orbital rocket to launch from MLS’ Spaceport Nova Scotia around Q3 2028.
Investing in Canada’s defence industry has been a primary focus for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government. His government pledged to reach NATO’s 2% defence spending target on defence by March 2026. During an outreach event to school children in Montréal in October 2025, Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development highlighted Canada’s increased defence commitment of investing 5% of annual GDP by 2035. “I don’t want to scoop anything, but that means much more support to the Canadian Space Agency. Be ready, because the Canadian Space Agency will be playing a key role and the defense investments of our government,” said Joly.
MLS has gained the confidence of both the public and private sector in Canada. The $10M investment announcement from MDA Space serves as a signal to other Canadian businesses. One would assume that if the company who provides the Canadarm technology is backing MLS, they should too.
At the time of posting this article, Maritime Launch Services ($MAXQ) share price has increased ~33% compared to the previous day.
