A
U.S.-Canadian venture to develop suborbital
and orbital
rocket ships has found a new launch site along the Atlantic coastline of
Nova Scotia.
The London,
Ontario, Canada-based firm PlanetSpace
has secured a team agreement for 300 acres of land along the edge
of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia - a province of Canada - for orbital space
shots by its Silver
Dart spacecraft in 2009.
"I think
what's exciting is it brings a private spaceflight program to Canada," said Chirinjeev
Kathuria, PlanetSpace chairman and a Chicago-based entrepreneur. "The
Canadian government is very excited."
Nova Scotia
officials said the launch site agreement stemmed from months of discussions,
meetings and informational sessions with PlanetSpace and its backers.
"Our
initial meeting was because of a good geographic location for this type of
facility," said Mark James, the defense and space business development
executive for Nova Scotia Business, Inc. - an economic development branch for
the province. "Once we kind of peeked under the hood and saw that these guys
really did have solid technology and a good solid understanding of the
commercialization of space, we made a decision that this was a company we'd
like to work with."
Geoff
Sheerin, PlanetSpace CEO and president, said Nova Scotia's Cape Breton is a
prime starting ground for orbital space shots. Not only does the site allow
rockets to shed stages into the Atlantic Ocean - rather than a populated landmass
- during liftoff, but also allows launch trajectories to reach the
International Space Station (ISS), he added.
On Friday,
NASA announced
its selection of two U.S.-firms - El Segundo, California's Space
Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Oklahoma-based Rocketplane
Kistler - for its $500 million Commercial Orbital Transportation System
(COTS) demonstration program. After an initial demonstration round, the agency
plans to hold a second open competition - accessible to PlanetSpace and any
other interested contenders - to deliver cargo and crew launch services to the
ISS.
"One of the
things that COTS does for us...[is allow] a bit of a refocus," Sheerin told SPACE.com.
"We've actually already developed a bit of our COTS system."
James said
the next major steps for Nova Scotia and PlanetSpace are to pick exactly which
300 acres on Cape Breton's coastline will be the most optimum site for the
planned launch site, and meet with province and federal agencies to discuss any
environmental studies and evaluations from Transport Canada, the Canadian
transportation regulation agency, that may be required, he said.
One
orbital site, two vehicles
PlanetSpace
currently has two distinct spacecraft programs underway - each drawing on proven
flight technology - to launch paying customers or payloads into space.
In late
2005, PlanetSpace announced
plans for an orbital, eight-person spacecraft dubbed Silver Dart.
Designs
call for a lifting body vehicle, based on the U.S. Air Force's Flight Dynamics
Laboratory-7 (FDL-7) program, to launch atop a cluster
of rocket engines, withstand hypersonic glide speeds, and return to Earth
via a runway landing.
It is the
Silver Dart that would rely on the Cape
Breton spaceport, which happens to be located near the site of the first
flight of a Silver Dart vehicle. That aircraft, designed and built in part by
telephone-inventor Alexander Graham Bell, made Canada's first heavier-than-air
flight near Cape Breton in 1909, Sheerin said.
"He flew it
about 60 miles from where we're planning to launch our rocket," Sheerin said.
"We want to fly in 2009 into orbit. So the Silver Dart will fly again 100 years
later not only in the air but into space."
Sheerin
added that his firm's suborbital booster - the Canadian
Arrow - is a critical component of the Silver Dart vehicle.
"The
Canadian Arrow vehicle is technically going to be the third stage," Sheerin
said.
The Canadian
Arrow rocket is a carry-over from Sheerin's entry in the $10
million Ansari X Prize competition. It draws on legacy, German
V2 booster designs as the core of a capsule-based spacecraft to launch
three people into suborbital space. The rocket's main engine offers 50,000
pounds of thrust which, when clustered, would provide a good push into space.
"That
50,000-pound thrust engine, that's our ticket to the party," Sheerin said.
Canadian
Arrow plans
While
PlanetSpace pushes forward with its Silver Dart project, the firm is also
deciding whether to continue planned engine tests and a full-scale Canadian
Arrow hold down test at a previously chosen launch site.
In June
2006, PlanetSpace chose
the Canadian Forces Meaford Range and Testing Area for engine tests, escape
system shakedowns and the first suborbital flights of the Canadian Arrow
rocket. The military base is located near Cape Rich and the coast of Georgian
Bay.
"It's
possible that we can move those also to the Nova Scotia facility, if required,"
Sheerin said.
Kathuria and
Sheerin said PlanetSpace is targeting initial Canadian Arrow flights in 2008.
The spacecraft is designed to be launched from a floating barge, such as Lake
Ontario, with the crewed capsule parachuting back to Earth for a water
splashdown.
But despite
its name, the Canadian Arrow may not fly from its native country alone.
"We're
looking at one of the other Midwestern states to launch suborbital flights
from," Kathuria said.
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