PlanetSpace’s Silver Dart spacecraft could one day launch space tourists into orbit from a Nova Scotia spaceport and land 45 minutes later in Sydney, Australia (Illustration: PlanetSpace) After jettisoning the main Canadian Arrow rocket stage, PlanetSpace’s suborbital crew vehicle would continue on into space (Illustration: PlanetSpace) The Canadian Arrow rocket would carry paying passengers on 15-minute suborbital flights into space (Illustration: PlanetSpace)

The first Canadian spaceport is set to be built on the country’s east coast. Backers of the plan say the spaceport could one day launch supplies to the International Space Station and even send tourists on trips around the Earth.

The province of Nova Scotia has signed an agreement setting aside 300 acres of government-owned land for US-Canadian private space firm PlanetSpace to construct a rocket launching facility.

The company estimates it will cost about US$200 million to build the spaceport at a site northwest of a town called Sydney Mines, on Cape Breton.


Rockets launched from Cape Breton, which is at the same latitude as the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the site of Russia’s Soyuz launches, would require less fuel to reach the ISS than those launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US.

Rockets launched from the site would pass over the Atlantic Ocean, rather than a populated land area, on their way into space.

War technology

PlanetSpace hopes to develop a space tourism business, ferrying customers into space in suborbital and eventually orbital flights. It intends to start construction within a year to have the spaceport ready for its first suborbital launch by late 2008 or early 2009.

The suborbital flights are expected to carry passengers on 15-minute rides into space, including 4.5 minutes of weightlessness.

Those flights would each be powered by the company’s Canadian Arrow rocket, based on German V2 rocket technology developed during the second world war. PlanetSpace learned the details of the V2 design partly by studying examples that survive in museums.

The name Canadian Arrow is a nostalgic nod to the Avro Arrow fighter jet, which was developed and then controversially mothballed in Canada in the 1950s, prompting an exodus of engineers to the US.

Space station supplies

Eventually, the company would like to offer orbital flights for space tourists. These flights would rely on a vehicle called the Silver Dart, named after an early airplane designed by telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, and flown in 1909 near the site of the planned Cape Breton spaceport.

“We’re basically developing a private manned space programme for Canada,” says company chairman Chirinjeev Kathuria.

The company also wants to build a spacecraft that could bring crew and goods to the International Space Station. Kathuria says the company is trying to negotiate an agreement to get technical help from NASA in building such a vehicle.

He would not say whether this is related to the NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which has several companies competing for NASA contracts, including PlanetSpace (see Space tourism company still aiming for space station).

Ultimate prize

The European Space Agency is also providing funds to help space tourism companies develop their vehicles, and PlanetSpace is hoping to benefit from this. “PlanetSpace will be submitting a proposal to ESA,” Kathuria says.

He says the company is also interested in having ESA launch its own missions from the Cape Breton spaceport. ESA currently has a spaceport in South America’s French Guiana.

The company is also looking into the possibility of a producing a reality television show related to its space activities. Kathuria declined to discuss the details, but gave the example of former plans by space tourism company Mircorp for a game show, with the prize being a trip into space.

Green rocket

While the province of Nova Scotia backs the plan, there are still some regulatory hurdles to face with the Canadian federal government. Kathuria is upbeat about the remaining steps, however. “We’ve had talks with Transport Canada and they’re very supportive,” he told New Scientist.

As for environmental concerns, Geoff Sheerin, CEO of PlanetSpace, says the company has chosen to use ethyl alcohol fuel for its rockets because it is environmentally friendly. “Our fuel comes from corn,” Sheering told New Scientist. “Even if it gets in the water, it dissipates very quickly with no damage to the environment. It’s a green rocket, so to speak.”

Kathuria says the facility could provide 4000 jobs and US$400 million per year in economic benefits to the region. The Canadian spaceport would join other commercial spaceports to be built by private space companies in places like Scotland, New Mexico, and Texas (see Internet billionaire aims to build spaceport in Texas).

PlanetSpace is based in London, Ontario, but plans to move its offices to Nova Scotia.