Little more than a concrete shed pad at the end of a gravel road with two sea cans, Maritime Launch’s “Spaceport Nova Scotia” was recently lavished $20 million a year for 10 years by our federal government to further develop its facility, and as it now boasts to investors — send rockets into space on “150+” launch days a year…
On March 16 this year, National Defence Minister David McGuinty announced an “historic investment” of $200 million over 10 years to Maritime Launch Services for the lease of a dedicated “space launch pad” in Canso.
I don’t know. I do know that Canada does not have any space launch facility or capability; it gave that up back in the 1980’s, preferring to partner with its reliable ally to the South. That was very good for the US, as it put more resources into our space program at virtually no cost, and it was good for Canada as it gave them access to space programs without bearing the entire weight of developing a program for themselves.’
Perhaps they think that the ally to the South is no longer so reliable. It wouldn’t surprise me.
At this point I would love to point people to a post I wrote back on Fool 2.0 after a trip to Cape Canaveral, but the short version was “It’s impressive how unimpressive Cape Canaveral is”.
The launch pads that sent the first rockets were little more than concrete tennis courts, and not really significantly bigger. They were simply places you could stand up a rocket and maybe a gantry crane,
The later ones were not much better. Bigger, maybe, and the infrastructure consisted of what I called “a giant end table without a top.” It had 4 legs and a supporting structure all around, as if to hold a glass top. Those large pipes would be filled with water, which would come flooding out as the rocket launched, quenching the flames and smoke for the first 30 feet of the launch.
Otherwise, a couple of blockhouses (not open to visitors, also no longer in use) probably filled with long-outdated electronics and switches and dials. In short, a launch pad doesn’t really look like much, at least until you get to the level of the US space assembly building, giant crawlers and such.
Not surprising that Canada might want to take baby steps to have a launch capability in place, given the international dynamic they face at the moment.,
Earths rotation gives launch sites close to the equator an advantage. Canada is at a disadvantage but does have lots of ocean. Will not be inexpensive but could fit w national pride. And less dependent on the U.S.
Built as part of the Canadian centennial celebration in 1967, St. Paul, Alberta has an official UFO landing welcome site. Weighing just over 130 tons, the large flat concrete structure contains a time capsule to be opened on the 100-year anniversary of the pad’s opening in 2067.
