Maritime Launch Services

Maritime Launch Services
Private
Industry Aerospace
Founded 2016
Headquarters Nova Scotia, Canada
Key people
 John Isella
(CEO)
Steve Matier
(President and Spaceport Development)
Products Cyclone-4M launch service
Services Orbital rocket launch
Website www.maritimelaunch.com

Maritime Launch Services (MLS) is a Canadian space transport services company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada. MLS will rely on Ukrainian Cyclone-4M rockets by Yuzhnoye to launch polar and sun synchronous orbit from Canso, Nova Scotia. MLS is a joint venture of three U.S.-based firms.[1]

Launch site

On March 14, 2017, MLS selected Canso, Nova Scotia as MLS's launch site. MLS has applied to lease 15 hectares of land outside the town from the provincial Department of Natural Resources, and construction is slated to begin in 2018. The $110 million rocket spaceport will be used to launch commercial satellites into space as early as 2020[2] with a goal for up to eight launches annually by 2022. The site will include a 10-15 metre-tall control centre and rocket assembly facility, with a launch pad positioned 2.4 kilometres away, linked by a custom rail system for rocket transportation. It will be the only operational spaceport in Canada, after the abandonment of the Churchill Rocket Research Range in the 1990s, and the first commercial spaceport for orbital launches in the country.[3][4]

The proposed launch site is approximately 3.5 km south of Canso at 45°18′13″N 60°58′58″W / 45.303559°N 60.982891°W / 45.303559; -60.982891 (Launch Site), with the Vehicle Processing Facility located approximately 2 km south-west of Canso at 45°19′02″N 61°00′36″W / 45.317235°N 61.010000°W / 45.317235; -61.010000 (Vehicle Processing Facility).[5]

Service

MLS hopes to launch eight rockets annually by 2022 with two southward launch options. Option 1 is a Sun-synchronous orbit launch between 600–800 km, for smaller satellites, with a payload up to 3350 kg for US$45 million. Option 2 is a Low Earth Orbit launch, below 600 km in altitude, that will allow a payload up to 5000 kg also for US$45 million.[6]

Rockets

MLS relies on Ukrainian 2-stage Cyclone-4M rockets by Yuzhnoye Design Office. It uses a Zenit-derived first stage powered by four unspecified Ukrainian-built Kerosone/LOX engines and upper stage stack developed for the original hypergolic Cyclone 4 rocket.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "T-minus 1 year until rocket launch site construction starts in Nova Scotia - Nova Scotia - CBC News". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  2. ↑ "Commercial Space Launch Complex Site Selection Completed" (PDF). maritimelaunch.com. 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  3. ↑ Doucette, Keith. "Small Nova Scotia community chosen as launch site for space rockets". Globalnews.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  4. ↑ "It is rocket science: New details revealed about proposed space port in Nova Scotia". CBC.ca. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  5. ↑ "Maritime Launch Services" (PDF). 2016-11-01. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  6. ↑ "Exclusive: Maritime Launch Services Selects Nova Scotia Site for Spaceport Over 13 Other Locations - SpaceQ". Spaceq.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.