Watch live: Canada to attempt its first commercial rocket launch from Newfoundland

If all goes well, Saturday morning will mark the launch of the first commercial rocket from Canadian soil. More specifically, it will leave the planet from the Atlantic Spaceport Complex, a newly built facility on the southern edge of Newfoundland, just outside the small town of St. Lawrence, about 350 kms southwest of St. John’s.

The Markham, Ont.-based company behind the mission is Nordspace , founded just three years ago by 33-year-old Rahul Goel , who is a currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Toronto, and also runs two companies, PheedLoop and Genepika. And the launch itself couldn’t be more Canadian. The sub-orbital rocket is called Taiga, named after a type of coniferous forest found at high northern latitudes, including the region of Newfoundland where the launch will take place.

The launch can be watched live here:

The Taiga is about five metres tall and about 30 centimetres in diameter, and is powered by the company’s 3D printed liquid rocket engine, named the Hadfield in honour of Canadian astronaut and former space station commander Chris Hadfield .

The inaugural launch has been dubbed “Getting Screeched In,” a reference to the tradition of making those “from away” into honorary Newfoundlanders by having them kiss a cod and take a shot of local rum, known as screech. Taiga’s rocket fuel, a mix of kerosene and liquid oxygen, will be somewhat stronger stuff.

“We believe that it is critical for a Canadian launch capability to be supported by Canadian designed and manufactured rockets, launching from Canadian soil, by a 100% Canadian owned company,” Nordspace said on its website in announcing the launch window. “We welcome you to join us as we open this new frontier for Canada.”

The launch window will open daily from 6:30 a.m. until noon and again from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time. (Newfoundland’s time zone is 90 minutes ahead of Toronto and Montreal.) If Saturday’s launch doesn’t happen, the team will have further windows daily until the following Saturday, Sept. 27.

This is not the first launch attempt by Nordspace. A previous try made at the end of August was delayed at first by the close passage of Hurricane Erin, and then by a misfire detection mechanism that triggered prematurely and put the rocket into a safe state just before it was to lift off. Nordspace then had to obtain a new launch licence from Transport Canada.

“We are pleased to have arrived at this absolute final point which is difficult to test precisely, even with static fires, until the rocket is actually flown,” the company said on its website, announcing the scrub of the last attempt. “We will be back very soon!”

Taiga is merely the first step in the company’s plans. If the sub-orbital flight — with a partially fuelled rocket, and a flight time of only about 60 seconds — goes well, the next step would be to fly the Tundra, named for the treeless region to the north of taiga areas in the Arctic.

The Tundra would be more than four times as tall as the Taiga, at about 22 metres, with two stages and multiple Hadfield engines. “Our goal is to fly Tundra for the first time as early as 2027,” the company said on its website.

“This historic launch from Canadian soil of our Taiga sub-orbital rocket, powered by our 3D printed Hadfield engines, will represent a massive leap forward for Canadian sovereignty, prosperity, and security and for assured access to space,” it added. “Our technologies and infrastructure are all being designed to scale to medium-lift, responsive, and reusable launch vehicles.”

National Post has reached out to Hadfield and Nordspace for further comments.

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