NordSpace has secured a contribution award valued at $715 million from the Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program, or STPD, to accelerate the development of advanced additive manufacturing for high-performance liquid rocket propulsion and the commercialization of highly responsive orbital launch vehicles.
How Will the Project Advance Canada’s Space Propulsion Technology?
The company said Wednesday that it intends to scale Canada’s fleet of orbital launch vehicles from small-lift to medium-lift capabilities over the next decade to serve the nation’s and its allies’ space mission requirements.
“Canada’s growing demand for responsive and cost-effective medium-lift space launch requires continuous investment in disruptive manufacturing technologies that shorten development cycles, boost reliability, and reduce production costs,” commented Rahul Goel, CEO of NordSpace.
The executive added that the STPD award fast-tracks the time-to-market of the company’s Hadfield and Garneau line rocket engine, and promotes more competitive domestic factories and laboratories.
“Faster development, robust design, and manufacturing leadership are critical for Canada to drive commercial success and, above all, to secure Canada’s place on the global stage as a sovereign provider of launch solutions for our country and our Allies,” Goel concluded.
The multi-material manufacturing project focuses on developing functionally graded materials and multi-alloy composites to optimize rocket engine design, fabrication and testing.
NordSpace will collaborate with Canadian research institutes and small businesses to produce regeneratively cooled liquid engines. The engines will undergo hot-fire testing to validate performance before scaling for flight qualification and commercial production.
The project is expected to create 15 highly skilled positions across partner organizations and generate dozens more in engineering and manufacturing as commercialization progresses. It will also generate new intellectual property and additive manufacturing expertise to Canada’s aerospace sector.
The award follows the launch of NordSpace’s Advanced Manufacturing for Aerospace, or AMA, Lab. The facility, established with funding from the Ontario Centre of Innovation, will employ artificial intelligence-powered numerical design models to enhance the capabilities of NordSpace’s rocket engines and turbo machinery.