Canadian rocket startup plans engine component hot

Toronto-based Canada Rocket Company is readying this year for hot-fire testing of engine components for its R-2 rocket. The startup is one of three Canadian companies that earlier this year received $8.3 million from the government for launch vehicle development, as part of an effort to establish a domestic launch capability. CRC is targeting a medium-lift design, capable of launching up to 15,000 kilograms to low-Earth orbit. The others, Nordspace of the Toronto area and Reaction Dynamics of the Montreal area, are pursuing small-lift designs of under 1,100-kg. The first CRC test, planned for December, will focus on a gas generator for turbine ignition, according to CEO and co-founder Hugh Kolias. “We’ll be hot-firing that generator at our test facility in December of this year,” he said in an interview. “That really kicks off the beginning of our core test and development cycle for our engine that will extend to about 2028, when we should have a fully assembled engine with turbopump ready for hot fire. And then we’re looking at about a 2032 launch attempt.” Along with the launch vehicle funding, Canada’s Department of National Defense announced in March it had allocated $200 million to develop a spaceport on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, which is now under construction. “With military, emergency response, and government services increasingly dependent on space-based systems, sovereign launch protects national interests and enables continuity of operations,” the announcement reads. Kolias said the R-2 will have nine engines fed by methalox — liquid methane fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer, the propellant used for the first stages of Starship, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Rocket Lab’s Neutron launchers. The R-2 structure will likely be largely composed of aluminum lithium alloy, he said, the same material SpaceX uses for Falcon 9 boosters. CRC has raised $22 million, including the government money, and aims to raise $650 million in the next few years as testing proceeds. Plans call for building the facility for the December hot-fire and other testing “this fall,” Kolias said. CRC is also considering purchasing a separate 500,000-square-foot (46,450-square-meter) facility for manufacturing R-2s, according to Kolias. That building “needs to be near water” because the rocket will be transported by barge to the Atlantic launch site, he added. He said CRC’s research shows demand for satellite launches far outstrips the available supply of rockets, especially as SpaceX has announced its intention to begin phasing out Falcon 9. SpaceX founder Elon Musk in August posted on X that “winding down” Falcon operations would occur “once Starship is flying reliably several times a week.” A CRC spokesperson said by email the company has “found that about 80% of satellite launch demand is currently without a contracted ride to orbit,” and CRC expects that number to rise. The Canadian government hasn’t described its desired launch cadence, but Kolias said he expects CRC and other providers to conduct up to a dozen launches annually in the 2030s. The growing demand for medium-lift launchers, as well as the potential gap created if SpaceX retires Falcon 9, is recognized in the industry, said Chris Quilty, a Florida-based space business analyst. “It’s unclear what will fill the gap,” Quilty said. “SpaceX took 83% of global mass to market in 2025, and they are switching over to Starship, but it is unlikely they will make Starship available to commercial customers for two to three years while they focus on their own needs, such as launching Starlink or orbital data centers” and government launches, such as those for NASA’s Artemis moon program. “To fill the gap, Blue Origin’s New Glenn is the only contender in the heavy-lift category, while there are a dozen small, medium and heavy launch vehicles racing” to begin operations, Quilty said. However, not everyone expects SpaceX to retire Falcon 9, said Liang Sim, a space analyst with Michigan consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory. “It would be silly to retire what is one of the biggest cash cows,” Sim said.