A Dutch-built rocket ascends from a launch site near Canso, N.S., Wednesday.Ivan Semeniuk/The Globe and Mail
Step by step, a new space age is coming to Canada.
The latest sign of that progress came early Wednesday morning, when about 100 people, including stakeholders and media, ventured onto a rocky plateau that juts out from the Nova Scotia coast to witness a Dutch-built rocket race upward into the pale Atlantic sky.
The launch, which took place at 8:51 a.m. local time, was only the second commercial rocket flight hosted by Maritime Launch Services Inc. at its budding Nova Scotia spaceport.
But unlike a previous effort last November, this launch was also a coming-out party for the Halifax-based company, which aims to eventually send spacecraft into orbit from its facility near Canso – a feat that has yet to be achieved anywhere in Canada.
The sense of occasion was heightened by the arrival of a busload of NATO representatives who are in Nova Scotia to discuss its Starlift program, an effort by the alliance to increase its strategic access to space. Earlier this year, Ottawa announced it intends for Canada to become a full member of the initiative.
The launch, modest by commercial aerospace standards, is intended as a first step toward lifting heavier payloads into orbit from Canada. It also signals growing political and economic interest in developing Canada’s domestic launch capacity.
Also on hand for the launch was Canadian astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen, fresh from his flight around the moon as a member of NASA’s Artemis II mission. It was Col. Hansen who had the honour of pushing the button that ignited the rocket on Wednesday morning.
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Those watching from a viewing area more than one kilometre away saw the brief orange spark of the ignition, followed by the rapid ascent of the 4.5-metre-long rocket.
Unlike heavier launch vehicles that are used to lift astronauts and massive payloads into orbit, the rocket shot into the sky like an arrow and was out of sight in a matter of seconds, leaving a thin line of vapour in its wake.
While the rocket was not intended to reach orbit, there was a chance that it might exceed an altitude of 100 kilometres. By aeronautical convention, this height is considered to be the official boundary of outer space.
The rocket quickly approached that threshold, but an anomaly during the later stages of the flight caused it to diverge from its expected course. Ultimately, the test fell short of reaching space.
“It appeared to do a bit of a dog leg,” Steve Matier, president and chief executive of Maritime Launch Services, said after launch. He added that it might take days to fully understand the reason for the rocket’s change of trajectory toward the end of its ascent. One cause likely to be under consideration is whether there was an issue with one or more of the rocket’s stabilizing fins.
As planned, the rocket ended its flight by plummeting into the ocean.
As was the case last November, the rocket was built and launched by T-Minus Engineering BV of Delft, Netherlands. The company has selected the Nova Scotia site for testing its Barracuda hypersonic suborbital rocket.
To allow engineers time to analyze Wednesday’s test flight, T-Minus scrapped its plan to launch a second Barracuda from the site later the same morning. It could still take place on a different date until a permitted launch window expires on June 13.
“Until you do the data analysis you can’t really turn around and do another launch in a few hours,” Mr. Matier said.
Since he founded Maritime Launch Services in 2016, Mr. Matier has faced skepticism about the company’s plans to build a viable spaceport in Nova Scotia. And some residents still have concerns about the environmental and safety implications if such a thing comes to pass.
Mr. Matier said he initially settled on the Canso site because its position on the easternmost point of North America’s mainland is ideal for placing satellites in a commercially desirable “sun-synchronous” orbit. Satellites launched in such a trajectory follow the day-night boundary as it sweeps around Earth. This gives a spacecraft’s solar panels uninterrupted sunlight.
The company has navigated regulatory hurdles and worked through emerging Transport Canada rules, which are still catching up to the reality of a launch site in an area where there are communities nearby and ships downrange.
The construction of roadways and launch pads has proceeded over the past few years, though there is no sign yet of the buildings that are planned for the site.
While the setting, on a stony plain among scrappy evergreens, is a far cry from the palm trees and flocks of tourists who gather for launches at Cape Canaveral in Florida, Wednesday’s event had some of the same sense of excitement and anticipation.
In addition to private customers such as T-Minus, Maritime Launch Services now has a contract with the federal government, which also aims to launch satellites there.
While such a capability was not a federal priority a few years ago, geopolitics has now made it one. The Canso site has become central to that plan and many are hoping the community will also benefit.
Among those who attended the launch were local government, business and Indigenous representatives. “It’s bringing hope,” said Fin Armsworthy, a long-time municipal councillor from Canso, who added that the area needs an economic lifeline.
After the launch, Col. Hansen said the unfolding activity around the site was something he has been eager to see grow, and a precursor to what he hopes will be full-fledged space-launch status for Canada.
“This is a big day,” he said.