ST. JOHN’S — A company hoping to launch rockets from southern Newfoundland says it has signed a $20-million contract with the Department of National Defence. In a news release, Nordspace says the 10-year agreement gives the federal department priority access to a dedicated launch pad at the company’s Atlantic Spaceport Complex, which is under construction on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. Nordspace says the money covers the cost of maintaining the facility and keeping it ready for launches. It says individual launch missions will be carried out through separate contracts. The company announced last week it was entering the second phase of construction of its spaceport in St. Lawrence, N.L., a town of about 1,115 people on the Burin Peninsula’s southeastern edge. A Nordspace satellite called Terra Nova was launched into orbit earlier this month aboard a SpaceX rocket that took off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base on the coast of California. “A sovereign spacefaring Canada must be able to launch payloads into orbit from its own soil, on its own rocket,” said Rahul Goel, Nordspace’s chief executive officer, in a news release Wednesday. The release said the deal with the Department of National Defence “uniquely positions Nordspace in Canada’s sovereign launch effort.” A separate release from the federal government said the Nordspace contract was part of $3 billion worth of investments by National Defence this year to “strengthen (Canada’s) sovereign space capabilities and invest in the development of a strong, competitive Canadian space sector.” Nordspace attempted several launches last year from its base in St. Lawrence, N.L. They were delayed or cancelled for various reasons including fires on the launch pad and fishing boats that entered an exclusion zone.
