Proposed commerical spaceport in Nova Scotia signs launch deal with Reaction Dynamics (formerly Raytheon)
Maritime Launch Services, the company that has been trying to build a commerical spaceport in Nova Scotia since 2016, has now signed a launch deal with Reaction Dynamics (formerly Raytheon) to do a suborbital test launch.
This new partnership between the two Canadian space companies will begin with a pathfinder launch designed to reach the edges of space. The low impulse launch will push the limits toward a future orbital launch by reaching the Karman Line, the internationally recognized edge of Space.
Under the terms of the MOU, Maritime Launch and Reaction Dynamics [RDX] will work towards a Pathfinder mission that will enable a first ever orbital launch of a Canadian vehicle from Canadian soil on the coast of Nova Scotia. These missions will be supported by RDX’s patented, cutting-edge hybrid rocket technology. Building on the success of the first launch, both companies will work toward the first commercial missions of the Aurora vehicle.
This Nova Scotia spaceport has had a complex and difficult history. Initially it was going to offer launches using a Ukrainian-built rocket, but that plan fell through with Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. It then opened the spaceport to any rocket company, but it appears it has gotten few takers. Now it is working with Reaction Dynamics to once again provide its own launch services. We shall see how this plays out.
As for Reaction Dynamics, why it decided after a merger to change its name from Raytheon makes no sense to me. Raytheon had a solid brand name value. No one has heard of Reaction Dynamics or RDX (which it appears the company prefers). Reminds me when the corporate heads of U.S. Steel decided to change the name to USX in order to match its stock ticker abbreviation. In one fell swoop they eliminated a valuable brand name, replacing with a non-entity that ended up failing in subsequent years.
This decision however by Reaction Dynamics to become a rocket startup is encouraging. Raytheon had traditionally done major classifed missile work for the Pentagon, keeping itself out of the limelight. This new version of the company might be finally stepping out to do commercial civilian work, and could thus quickly become a major player in the launch market.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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Maritime Launch Services, the company that has been trying to build a commerical spaceport in Nova Scotia since 2016, has now signed a launch deal with Reaction Dynamics (formerly Raytheon) to do a suborbital test launch.
This new partnership between the two Canadian space companies will begin with a pathfinder launch designed to reach the edges of space. The low impulse launch will push the limits toward a future orbital launch by reaching the Karman Line, the internationally recognized edge of Space.
Under the terms of the MOU, Maritime Launch and Reaction Dynamics [RDX] will work towards a Pathfinder mission that will enable a first ever orbital launch of a Canadian vehicle from Canadian soil on the coast of Nova Scotia. These missions will be supported by RDX’s patented, cutting-edge hybrid rocket technology. Building on the success of the first launch, both companies will work toward the first commercial missions of the Aurora vehicle.
This Nova Scotia spaceport has had a complex and difficult history. Initially it was going to offer launches using a Ukrainian-built rocket, but that plan fell through with Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. It then opened the spaceport to any rocket company, but it appears it has gotten few takers. Now it is working with Reaction Dynamics to once again provide its own launch services. We shall see how this plays out.
As for Reaction Dynamics, why it decided after a merger to change its name from Raytheon makes no sense to me. Raytheon had a solid brand name value. No one has heard of Reaction Dynamics or RDX (which it appears the company prefers). Reminds me when the corporate heads of U.S. Steel decided to change the name to USX in order to match its stock ticker abbreviation. In one fell swoop they eliminated a valuable brand name, replacing with a non-entity that ended up failing in subsequent years.
This decision however by Reaction Dynamics to become a rocket startup is encouraging. Raytheon had traditionally done major classifed missile work for the Pentagon, keeping itself out of the limelight. This new version of the company might be finally stepping out to do commercial civilian work, and could thus quickly become a major player in the launch market.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I worked at Raytheon for 3 years as a design engineer. To say it was a poor fit for me was an understatement. Raytheon, even before the merger with United Technologies, was sclerotic, totally political, and full of woke garbage. It grew much worse after the merger. UTC was a marginally failing entity that did well to merge with Raytheon, but since then they’ve changed their name twice. That, to me, points to a management that is exhausted and out of ideas.
I do not look for them to become a major player in the launch provider market. They are, like Boeing, incapable of operating outside the extremely cushy cost-plus paradigm.
I’m with a different company now, and it’s night and day. It has its issues, but it’s much closer to SpaceX than it is to Raytheon, though in very different markets from both.
Larry: Thank you for your personal perspective. Most enlightening. I will factor it in as I watch this particular story develop.
This reminds me of Allied Signal buying Honeywell in 1999. UTC and GE were suiters at the time. GE was accepted but the EU put the stop on it and GE pulled out (over a single weekend after they had installed their transition managers in almost every Honeywell operation).
But Honeywell had the name brand, so the name was kept even though Allied Signal was the buyer.
Mr. Zimmerman is spot on with brand recognition, IMHO.