Maritime Launch Services is scheduled to send a rocket from the Eastern tip of the province into space.
The Canadian-owned commercial space company’s first test launch in two years, the suborbital test vehicle is set to launch on Tuesday or Wednesday from Spaceport Nova Scotia in Canso , weather permitting.
“I think Tuesday’s looking a little windy,” cautions Stephen Matier, founder and president of Maritime Launch Services, noting Wednesday will be the mission’s delay date. “It’s expected to travel to about 120 kilometres of altitude and go down range about 120 kilometres and land in the ocean.”
Matier says the test vehicle is also expected to reach speeds of up to Mach 7 or hypersonic velocity (five times the speed of sound), which will provide Maritime Launch Services valuable data for future launches.
“It’s a training exercise for all of our stakeholders,” says Matier, adding that the launch, in partnership with Netherlands-based company, T-Minus Engineering, will provide experience coordinating with Transport Canada, local fire and emergency services, Nav Canada and others. “All that stuff goes to coordinating a successful launch, whether its suborbital or orbital, so it’s a great planning and traning exercise for future orbital missions.”
According to Maritime Launch Services website, the company anticipates launching approximately eight missions per year by its fifth year of operations.
“The community around Canso, Hazel Hill and Little Dover will certainly see it,” says Matier of the launch. “It’ll be a whoosh but it won’t be loud by any means but (people) should be able to hear it.”
Located near Canso, Spaceport Nova Scotia is “designed to provide responsive, cost-effective, and sustainable access to space for launch vehicle developers and satellite delivery services to low-Earth orbit over a wide range of inclinations from a single site.”
