Some defence officials have advocated that Canada have its own rocket launch capability, which would make proposals by firms such as NordSpace critical to the country’s security (NordSpace image)
By David Pugliese
With the situation in the U.S. continuing to raise concerns about current military alliances, Canada’s strategic weaknesses have become more apparent.
One of these is the lack of a Canadian capability to launch its own satellites.
A Department of National Defence memorandum, prepared in January 2024, noted that Canada was one of the only space-faring nations without a sovereign launch capability. It has relied on other countries including, in the past, Russia to launch spacecraft.
Some in the Canadian military and government have long advocated for the country to develop its own launch capabilities, in particular a rocket system. But little progress has been made and Canada continues to rely on allies and foreign companies for rockets and launch capabilities.
That is why developments at a Canadian company like NordSpace could be of interest to Canadian Forces and government officials. The firm is working to develop the nation's first orbital space launch vehicle and operational commercial spaceport.
On March 18 it announced that it unveiled its SHARP (Supersonic and Hypersonic Applications Research Platform) program. SHARP is offering dual-use solutions that assist Canada and allied nations with low cost, high speed, and high altitude missions operating at the edge of space in microgravity, built for cold-weather operations, flown from secure sites across the country. The SHARP program consists of three key responsive products designed, manufactured and flown in Canada, derived from the company’s dual-use space systems powering its orbital class launch vehicles, NordSpace pointed out in a news release.
The three products are SHARP Arrow, SHARP Sabre, and M2S-HyRock. SHARP Arrow is a fixed-wing rocket powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), capable of conducting research, reconnaissance, or intercept missions to and from any standard airport runway. It is being designed to be both the fastest and highest flying winged aircraft ever created in Canada (that title still held by the Avro Arrow).
According to NordSpace the vehicle may be autonomously flown or remotely piloted, and is capable of carrying a variety of medium-sized payloads depending on the mission profile. SHARP Sabre is a modified version of NordSpace’s Taiga rocket, designed to reach hypersonic speeds with large-sized payloads.
The company pointed out that Taiga is the only known commercial liquid rocket being developed in Canada, and is expected to launch later this year, setting the foundation for the company’s orbital rocket, Tundra. NordSpace is currently in the advanced phases of completing the flight-ready version of Taiga.
NordSpace announced earlier this year that it successfully performed a fully integrated test of its Taiga suborbital rocket system on January 14, 2025, from which SHARP Sabre is derived. The company is planning for its first launch of this vehicle from its private spaceport, Spaceport Canada, later this year and says it is working closely with the Canadian government and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador on licensing, approvals, and reviews.
Maritime Launch Services, a Canadian firm founded in 2016 and headquartered in Nova Scotia, is also trying to build the country’s first spaceport. The company completed its first suborbital launch on July 7, 2023, and is planning its first orbital launch in 2026 from its location near Canso, N.S.
Access to space is becoming more difficult because of a lack of launch facilities, according to various studies.
A 2023 study by Deloitte consultants noted the space launch infrastructure in the U.S. is running out of capacity as public and private sector demand for access to space is accelerating faster than ever before.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 5 that U.S. government officials and industry executives feared that backed-up launch sites would restrict payloads from getting to space in a timely manner. In 2024, there were 145 orbital launches from the U.S., five times as many as in 2017, the newspaper noted. SpaceX, a commercial firm headed by Elon Musk, conducted 134 of the launches in 2024.
China has also expanded its launch capabilities, opening up the first commercial facility last year to supplement government-run spaceports. It conducted its first launch in December, according to Chinese state media.
Saab and Canadian training firm CAE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on a training and simulation solution for Canada’s next generation submarine fleet.
The agreement was signed during CANSEC 2025. Under the MoU, Saab and CAE will jointly explore opportunities to provide training systems and simulation technology solutions for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), according to a news release from the companies.
Rheinmetall used CANSEC 2025 to highlight its Mission Master CXT with tethered drone integration as part of the Uncrewed Ground Systems (UGS) family. The Mission Master UGS family of products, fully developed in Canada and tested by Nordic countries, is well suited for Arctic operations, the company has pointed out.
Rheinmetall Canada has partnered with UTV International in pursuit of the DAME project, which aims to provide the Canadian Armed Forces with a Canadian- developed and made high-mobility platform that can move personnel and equipment over challenging terrain in Canada’s Arctic. The “Voyager” from UTV International was on display at Rheinmetall’s outdoor booth at CANSEC 2025.
I had a recent article in the Ottawa Citizen about how engineers at Dalhousie University are working with the Royal Canadian Navy and industry on using 3D printing to make parts for Canada’s Victoria-class submarines.
Paul Bishop, a materials engineer at Dalhousie University in Halifax, is leading a research team supported by Defence Research and Development Canada as well as various companies in an effort to use an industrial-grade form of 3D printing to produce critical submarine parts. “They have a very hard time sourcing replacement parts for those vessels, given their age,” Bishop said in an interview. “The idea is that, with the appropriate knowledge we are developing, one could potentially 3D print or repair replacement parts at a fraction of the cost and time and actually put the boat back in service under the right circumstances.”
Bishop noted he is working closely with Babcock which is the firm heavily involved in sustaining the Victoria-class boats. Since 2008, that firm has delivered complete lifecycle engineering support for Canada’s fleet of Victoria Class subs.
