In another historic milestone for NordSpace, the Honourable David J. McGuinty @DavidMcGuinty, Minister of National Defence, announced yesterday that NordSpace has been awarded a $20M, 10-year contract with the Department of National Defence at the Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX) in Newfoundland and Labrador. The ASX is Canada’s largest spaceport, and being built from the ground up to support light, medium and heavy-lift rockets, starting with NordSpace’s own Tundra and Tempest vehicles. This is the first contract of its kind between the DND and a Canadian commercial launch company developing both launch vehicles and launch pads. It uniquely positions NordSpace as Canada’s sovereign launch provider, a result of us being Canada’s only fully vertically integrated space missions company. Owning our own spaceport allows us the cadence and control necessary to operate at scale for both domestic and allied needs. Under the Facility Access Agreement (FAA) contract: 🚀 DND secures priority access to a dedicated launch pad at ASX, available to conduct urgent activities related to national security. 🚨 DND secures priority call on NordSpace launch capacity in the event of a matter of national security requiring urgent deployment of payloads to orbit. 🛰️ Over the 10-year term, NordSpace will prepare its facilities, vehicles, spacecraft, and operations for secure responsive sovereign launch, from Canadian soil, on Canadian timelines, under Canadian control. We intend to go beyond the baseline commitments of the contract by working toward always having our Tundra launch vehicle paired with several of our Aquila-class spacecraft buses available and on standby at ASX. The posture is designed to allow any DND mission to be integrated onto Aquila, launched aboard Tundra, and operated on orbit within a target window of 24 to 72 hours. This is the model the United States Space Force has demonstrated through its Tactically Responsive Space program, and the capability Canada now needs to build for itself. The target responsiveness is only credible because NordSpace is vertically integrated, designing, building, and operating the rocket, the spacecraft, the propulsion systems, the ground systems, and the spaceport itself. A truly sovereign responsive launch capability has to be owned, end to end, by a Canadian company under Canadian control. We are working closely with 3 Canadian Space Division (3 CSD) to purpose-build the capability around the real operational needs of the Canadian Armed Forces. The contract sits inside a broader vision now being executed in parallel across every layer of our vertically integrated program: 🛰️ Terra Nova is operating in orbit, testing common hardware and operations at TRL-9 across our launch and space systems, as the first Canadian launch company operating its own hardware in space. 🏗️ At ASX, Phase 2 construction is underway at SLC-01, targeting Spring 2027 completion ahead of made-in-Canada orbital launch NET 2028. 🏭 At Rocket Factory 1 in Markham, the Tundra orbital launch vehicle is making rapid progress leveraging advanced manufacturing in metal additive and automated composites. 🚀 Our Taiga suborbital vehicle is awaiting flight pending final regulatory approval as the first ever commercially authorized launch in Canada. Taiga will evolve into VERTEX, a nationwide sovereign Canadian suborbital launch platform ahead of Tundra’s first orbital flight. Each of these milestones is in service of the same commitment: launching Canadian rockets, carrying Canadian payloads, from Canadian soil, when Canada needs it. We are grateful to the DND and Hon. Minister McGuinty and the 3CSD and BGen Christopher Horner for their partnership and trust. @NationalDefence @CanadianForces @DRDC_RDDC @csa_asc @spacecanada @Transport_gc

We are extremely proud to announce that NordSpace has entered Phase 2 construction at the Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX), Canada’s largest spaceport, marking the next major step toward Canada's first fully sovereign orbital launch. Phase 2 opens with a six-kilometre launch access road going to SLC-01 (Space Launch Complex 01), engineered specifically to carry our Tundra light-lift and Tempest medium-lift vehicles to the pad. Phase 1 began in 2024 and culminated in landmark environmental approvals, crown lands grants, construction of Pad 2A at SLC-02, and initial flight tests. Phase 2 is targeted for completion by Spring 2027, at which point installation will begin of the core systems that bring the spaceport online: two orbital launch pads, mission control, propellant storage, launch platforms and towers, ground stations, vehicle integration hangars, ground support equipment, utilities, and the first elements of a visitor centre. Together, these milestones bring ASX on schedule to support made-in-Canada orbital launch NET 2028, in alignment with the Department of National Defence’s Launch the North timeline. Phase 2 is a critical piece of a vision now being executed in parallel across every layer of our integrated program: 🛰️ Our own satellite, Terra Nova, is operating in orbit, retiring risk and testing common hardware and operations at TRL-9 across our launch and space systems, and has made us the first Canadian launch company operating its own hardware in space. 🏭 At Rocket Factory 1 in Markham, Ontario, Tundra is making rapid progress leveraging advanced manufacturing in metal additive and automated composites for its orbital class propulsion systems and primary/secondary structures. 🏗️ At the ASX in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador, the roads, pads, and systems that will host Canada's first sovereign orbital launches are now being physically built. 🔥 Area 66 in Eastern Ontario, Canada’s largest rocket propulsion test facility privately owned and operated by NordSpace, is entering a new phase of development with seven new test cells dedicated to scaling our Hadfield-150 orbital-class engine test program. 🚀 The Taiga suborbital launch vehicle is awaiting its first flight pending final regulatory approvals, expected any week now. Taiga will be scaling to a nationwide sovereign launch platform called VERTEX to retire launch procurement risk, build operational cadence, stress test regulations and policies, and provide real Canadian-made operational capability. Each of these milestones is in service of the same commitment: launching Canadian rockets, carrying Canadian payloads, from Canadian soil. Phase 2 follows the recent $10M combined investment in ASX from the Government of Canada through ACOA, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and NordSpace private capital, now being deployed in significant part through our partnerships with local contractors and suppliers across the Burin Peninsula. ASX is Canada's largest and most capable spaceport, with the widest range of launch inclinations, the largest safety distances, and the highest approved launch cadence anywhere in the country. We own and operate the spaceport ourselves, which gives us full autonomy over our launch site, regulatory posture, and operational tempo. We are also working closely with Transport Canada on launch approvals and authorizations under Canada's new Commercial Space Launch Act, with further announcements expected in the near term, alongside major upcoming news on investments and contracts across our launch, spacecraft, propulsion, and spaceport programs. Codspeed and Ad Astra! 🚀🇨🇦 @NationalDefence @Transport_gc @csa_asc @GovNL @ACOACanada @DavidMcGuinty @SeanFraserMP @stevenmackinnon @EvanLSolomon @TonyWakehamNL

When our team gathered yesterday for this moment of unity after our Q3 townhall meeting, it was a glimpse into the real execution and progress we are making with ever increasing cadence to realize our goal of building Canada’s first vertically integrated space missions company. What defines NordSpace is not only our ambition, which is certainly abundant. It is our cadence and execution. In one photo you see everything from a full rocket ready for flight and our next generation orbital class engine ready to light, to spacecraft systems, ground station hardware, and beyond. We are building across 4 locations in 2 provinces, and are just getting started. Today we are celebrating the upcoming launch of our first satellite Terra Nova (live stream link in comments), but tomorrow it will be the launch of Taiga, Tundra, TERRY and then more spacecraft and more rockets with bolder missions that go further and happen faster. With each mission we retire incremental risks, learn critical lessons, export more capabilities, create more jobs, and build a solid foundation that makes success on Earth and in space for Canada not just possible, but inevitable. That foundation is built by crawling, walking, and then running without letting ambition outrun realism. Our focus on cadence will make space missions so routine and frequent for Canada, that we never have to ask ourselves if we’re launching another Canadian astronaut, robot, or rocket, but when we’re launching them. Alongside our public, private, academic and community partners, we will build a space program so robust and capable that our sovereignty, security and prosperity will be never be questioned. Thank you to the incredible team at NordSpace that makes the impossible, possible. Let’s light this candle! 🇨🇦🚀 @NationalDefence @DRDC_RDDC @csa_asc @ISED_CA @spacecanada