With a $20M contract for NordSpace, Canada's military backs a second domestic launch site - The Logic

Canada’s Department of National Defence has signed a second long-term agreement to support domestic launch capability, this time with NordSpace. A 10-year contract guarantees the department access to NordSpace’s launch facility in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador, though the cost of any actual launches would be billed separately. Earlier in the year, the government secured a 10-year, $200 million deal with NordSpace competitor Maritime Launch Services for a site in Nova Scotia. The Logic says the spaceport arrangements are intended to meet a NATO commitment to enable urgent space launches, such as replacing a critical satellite. Defence Minister David McGuinty announced the package alongside a $4.7 million contract for Kepler Communications for laser-based inter-satellite communications and plans to create a new “space mission operator” occupation in the Canadian Forces.