Maritime Launch Services prepares Nova Scotia Spaceport for medium-class rockets

The company said Nov. 13 with its third-quarter results that it is readying its Spaceport Nova Scotia site near Canso, N.S. for larger medium-class rockets.

The company, which has 13 full-time employees, named Sarah McLean chief operating officer this week. McLean helped found the leadership team and shifts from vice president of corporate affairs to chief operating officer as Maritime Launch prepares for orbital launches. The appointment was announced Nov. 12.

The complex near Canso is Canada’s first orbital launch site and handles small and medium rockets carrying satellites to low Earth orbit. Nova Scotia has cleared construction of medium-class capability at the spaceport, a site supporting civil and defence missions with a wide range of orbital inclinations. The first phase includes four launch pads. One is operational and three are being developed with customers through 2026 and 2027.

Local trades have started the foundation of a utility hub meant to collect power and services in one central spot before sending them to the pads. A deal signed in October with Nova Scotia Power will deliver as much as 3 megawatts from Canso along with a Bell fibre connection, with construction to begin within 60 days. The company is tendering for a security building at the site entrance this month, and site clearing is set for December.

Crews finished the road to Isar Aerospace’s pad on Nov. 1 because of a contractual deadline, and work is ongoing on Isar’s part of a shared building for rocket and satellite preparation. The launch control centre is still in preliminary design, even as the company aims to be fully ready for orbit by the first quarter of 2028.

Maritime Launch bought 115 acres south of its leased Crown land for cash on Nov. 4, adding to a May acquisition of 71 acres at Portage Cove. On Oct. 14, the province agreed in writing to extend Crown lease cancellation notice from 60 days to one year, but the amendment has not yet been added to the lease.

The company is talking with more launch firms than its four pads can handle, with payloads ranging from 150 kilograms to above 15,000 kg. Isar Aerospace plans to send its Spectrum rocket from its Nova Scotia site in 2028 with as much as 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit, while Reaction Dynamics targets its first orbital flight from Nova Scotia near the end of the third quarter of 2028. For Isar, the first year brings four quarterly payments that add up to 13 per cent of the contract value, followed by a payment pause from July 2027 until October 2029.

South Korea’s INNOSPACE signed a letter of intent in March covering its HANBIT rocket and faces a December deadline for a formal agreement. Stanley says permits allow medium-class, two-stage rockets carrying five tonnes to low-Earth orbit, and the site may support over 150 launch days annually.

The federal government has made Canadian medium-lift rockets a formal goal under Budget 2026, assigning the Department of National Defence responsibility for dedicated launch and test facilities. Maritime Launch says medium rockets fit constellation operators that must swap out failed satellites in groups, and limited heavy-lift booking availability may push customers toward newer spaceports.

The Department of National Defence launch pad lease provides about 99 per cent of revenue in equal monthly amounts. The Defence Department pays $20 million for each contract year, and by Sept. 30 it had paid $30 million, though no payment guarantee has been issued. Revenue for the three months that ended Sept. 30 totalled $5.6 million, unchanged from the previous quarter, and net income rose 9 per cent to $3.5 million from $3.2 million.

The cash balance reached $29.4 million by the end of September, up 30 per cent from $22.6 million in June. Isar Aerospace paid $5.3 million ($US 3.75 million) in August, and the amount sits as deferred revenue on the balance sheet. Deferred revenue from pad access that has not yet been delivered is about 80 per cent of the cash balance. It plans to claim roughly $31.2 million in approved Nova Scotia capital investment tax credits in 2027.

President and Chief Executive Stephen Matier said the company sees itself as well funded because of its cash balance and contractual payments from launch partners. “We feel we are well funded with over $29 million in cash on the balance sheet and contractual payments from our launch partners,” he said.

The company disclosed 767.9 million shares outstanding as of Nov. 10. During 2025 the share count expanded 78 per cent, with most of that growth in November when about 209 million shares were issued from converted debt linked to a $10 million MDA Space investment. Shares have remained under $1 throughout 2026.

Trading on the TSX started Nov. 3, with shares closing at 46 cents Thursday, up 64 per cent from the end of 2025 but down 33 per cent from the 69-cent April peak. Matier marked the listing by opening the market alongside TSX officials on Nov. 3.

A shareholder vote on a share consolidation is planned for early 2027, with the board to set the ratio. Consolidation would reduce the number of shares without altering ownership. Its example turns 10,000 shares at 46 cents into 1,000 shares at $4.60, leaving about 77 million instead of 768 million. The company says the move would create fewer, more expensive shares that trade more easily and open more fundraising paths.

To join the S&P/TSX Composite, the exchange demands a volume-weighted average price over $1 for the previous three months and other size and trading rules. It also asks for six full calendar months of listing history, meaning the earliest qualification is mid-2027.

Beacon Securities analyst Russell Stanley maintains a Buy rating and a $1.50 target price on the company. Stanley says two customers have signed decade-long agreements worth about $360-million in total. He also estimates that quarterly cash payments now top $10-million following Isar Aerospace’s first US$3.75-million payment in August.

Cantech Letter noted that American launch facilities hosted 181 launches in 2025, and SpaceX flew 170 of them, roughly 94 per cent. Washington aims to back at least 1,000 launches per year by 2030, which could raise demand for more launch infrastructure.