The race for Canada’s first operational spaceport is heating up.
Over the last year Markham Ontario’s NordSpace has quietly teased the location of Spaceport Canada, its commercial launch facility. From subtle tweets (Xeets?) to updates on their website, NordSpace has shared minimal, yet insightful information on where they plan to launch their flagship orbital vehicle (Tundra) from.
On the heels of the historic Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) announcement in August 2024, NordSpace revealed that it would invest $5M of its own funds for the first phase of Spaceport Canada. Construction for the spaceport is expected to cost a total of $10-15M, with NordSpace and the Canadian government covering the remaining costs.
Up until the time of this post, there weren’t many details on the location. However, on January 6, 2024, the company gave a potential and subtle clue as to the location of Spaceport Canada—Newfoundland and Labrador.
2025 is going to be a breakout year for NordSpace from launches and spaceports to upgraded manufacturing capabilities, our new engine test cells to refine our orbital engines and turbomachinery, and so much more. We recently visited MP Churence Rogers and Premier @FureyAndrew to… pic.twitter.com/yRsqi6ehf4
— NordSpace 🍁 (@Nord_Space) January 6, 2025
This of course is all speculation, but you can’t help but notice a few key things from the image in their post:
- MP Churence Rogers (middle) is the Member of Parliament of Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, Newfoundland Labrador
- the mention of Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey
- the booklet titled “Building Canada into a Spacefairing Nation,” with the subtitle of “Spaceport Canada and Newfoundland & Labrador”
Newfoundland and Labrador makes sense. Two of the ridings under Churence Rogers are on its eastern point, right on the Atlantic ocean.
Launching eastward over the ocean minimizes risk to populations in the event of launch failure. This potential location, similar to Maritime Launch Services in Nova Scotia is ideal for launching satellites due to its high latitude (roughly 48-49 degrees north). NordSpace can benefit from launching into polar and sun-synchronous orbits, a common path for Earth observation satellites. Unlike the launch complexes in Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, rockets launched from Spaceport Canada would not receive the extra boost from being close to the equator—this means more fuel will be used to carry heavier payloads.
Spaceport Canada will consist of two pads—Pad A and Pad B. They’ll both offer launch inclinations between 45 to 95 degrees. Pad A is reserved for NordSpace’s Tundra vehicle, while Pad B is reserved for launch partners in the United States (related to the TSA announcement in August 2024). One could imagine that U.S rocket companies who are seeking cost-effective launch facilities would entertain launching from Canada due to the lower value of the Canadian dollar vs the United States dollar. Again, speculation, but it’s a thought worth having.
NordSpace believes Spaceport Canada will enable Canada’s first commercial launch as of 2025. Those who have followed the progression of Maritime Launch Services understand the myriad of tasks and regulatory approvals that are involved in order to be cleared for launch—from environmental assessments to government support, it’s not a simple flick of a switch. These things take time, support, and a ton of funding.
On support, NordSpace has their bases covered, at least from organizations influencing government decision. In response to the $5M funding announcement from NordSpace, Space Canada CEO Brian Gallant (former Premier of New Brunswick) shared that “the value of developing domestic space launch capabilities, including commercial, cannot be understated as it will allow us to launch Canadian space technologies from Canada…given space is a strategic sector playing a pivotal role in defence by protecting our security and sovereignty, Canada needs to enhance its domestic launch capabilities.”
This is something you want to hear from an organization (Space Canada) that represents over 75 leading Canadian space innovators and advocated for Canada’s National Space council.
In an age where rockets launch multiple times daily around the globe, one would expect Canada to have its own launch capabilities. It is hard to believe that in just a few short years, Canada is on the cusp of having two launch facilities, both located on its east coast.
2025 is poised to be a game-changing year for Canada, marking the era of sovereign rocket launches.
Until further information is shared, enjoy NordSpace’s launch promotion for their bundle of services.
