Construction of Canada’s first commercial spaceport has been put off until later this year as the company behind the venture goes through the government approval process. Maritime Launch Services had hoped to break ground this month. The company hopes to launch the first satellite for a commercial customer from the $100 million facility at Canso, on the northeastern shore of mainland Nova Scotia. President Stephen Matier told the CBC that there are a number of hurdles in the way but good progress is being made. The company envisions launching 12 rockets a year from the facility with a focus on commercial satellite launches.
Matier earlier told the network he has letters of intent from “several” clients who want to use the facility but he declined to go into details. The company will use Ukraine-built rockets that have a 98 percent launch success rate.