The bulk of commercial space launch activity takes place just south of the border, but Canada is tired of sitting on the sidelines and wants to join the action. It announced its intention to support space launches.
The plan is for Canada to host commercial launch activities starting essentially immediately on a “case by case” basis, using existing regulatory frameworks to determine when, where and how those launches will occur. to manage. Its ad-hoc method is intended to allow Transport Canada to work with other relevant federal agencies and regulatory agencies to spend its time creating a framework specific to the country’s modern space launch activities. , which is expected to last about three years.
It’s not that Canada hasn’t yet joined the space economy. On the contrary, Transport Canada said aerospace commercial activity contributed more than her $22 billion in GDP to her country’s economy in 2020. The commercial launch sector is clearly overheating. However, Canada believes it is geographically and strategically well positioned.
Several homegrown startups are already experimenting with the possibility of launching small payloads from Canada.SpaceRyde will use Balloonloft’s small rockets to make relatively short trips to low earth orbit. But opening up commercial activity more broadly could help Canada sue existing commercial launch agencies looking to join SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and others as a take-off option in North America.
