Space Race: Getting Canada to Orbit

At SpaceBound in Gatineau, Quebec, across the river from Parliament Hill, John Stackhouse sat down with three people at the centre of Canada's push to reach orbit on its own terms.

Dan Goldberg, President and CEO of Telesat, is building Telesat Lightspeed, a global low-Earth orbit broadband constellation conceived, built and operated in Canada, with MDA as prime contractor. Its satellites will reach orbit on American rockets. Goldberg explains why defence and sovereignty have moved from a niche to a central source of demand for satellite services since the war in Ukraine, and why Canada's head start matters to allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

He supports a domestic launch capability but is clear-eyed about the bar. An operator competing with SpaceX, Amazon and state-owned Chinese operators needs launch that is reliable, affordable and frequent.

Hugh Kolias, co-founder and CEO of Canada Rocket Company, and Bachar Elzein, founder and CEO of Reaction Dynamics, are trying to meet that bar from different directions. Kolias is building a larger vehicle with proven technology and engineers who have built rockets before. Elzein is building containerized rockets that can be stored and launched from remote sites, with simpler propulsion to drive down cost.

The conversation builds on RBC Thought Leadership's Mission Critical report on why Canada's race to space is a matter of national urgency.

0:00 Live from SpaceBound
0:56 Telesat Lightspeed and Canada's place in low-Earth orbit
3:06 Defence, sovereignty and where demand is coming from
4:54 Why launch is a sovereign capability
9:28 Canada Rocket Company: speed, capital and talent
12:57 What a satellite operator needs from launch
15:22 Reaction Dynamics: cutting complexity to cut cost
19:16 Looking ahead to SpaceBound next year

Relevant Reports and Podcasts:

From Ottawa to Orbit: Two Views on Canada's Big Day. Colonel Jeremy Hansen, whose name is on Canada Rocket Company's new engine test facility. (PODCAST)

Atlantic Canada: Launching Sovereignty (The Canada Project). Stephen Matier of Maritime Launch Services and Rahul Goel of NordSpace, on the Canso spaceport Goldberg mentions. (PODCAST)

Space: The Low Earth Orbit Movement. Dan Goldberg's earlier Disruptors appearance, with Mike Greenley of MDA Space and Dr. Margarita Marinova. (PODCAST)

Mission Critical: Why Canada's race to space is of national urgency. The report Stackhouse references on air.

A Higher Orbit: How Canada can build and finance a bolder space strategy.

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