Isar Aerospace and Maritime Launch Services have signed a 10-year facilities usage agreement to build a dedicated launch complex for Isar’s Spectrum rocket at Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso, Canada. The deal, signed July 7 in Ankara during the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, converts May’s letter of intent into a binding contract and turns Nova Scotia into North America’s newest sovereign orbital launch site.
Terms of the deal
The 10-year agreement can be renewed for two additional five-year terms. Maritime Launch Services will receive US$3.75 million per quarter from Isar Aerospace for the length of the agreement, with a 30-month fee waiver starting at the end of year one — designed to bridge the buildout period. Additional per-launch fees will be paid on a cost-plus basis. Build-out is planned to begin in 2026, with first orbital launches targeted for 2028 and up to 40 launches annually by 2029. The agreement is conditional on final statement-of-work milestones by September 1 and the launch pad being handed over to Isar Aerospace by November 1, 2026.
Sovereign access to space
Isar Aerospace, headquartered near Munich, is the same company that won Planet’s Pelican satellite launch contract earlier this month and closed a €270 million round in June. It runs its first launch site at Andøya, Norway, and has now set up Isar Aerospace Canada Inc. to anchor North American operations. “While every nation needs data from space, almost no nation has the end-to-end capability to access it independently,” said Alexandre Dalloneau, Isar’s VP Mission and Launch Operations. “This makes launch capacity one of the most consequential bottlenecks in defence and intelligence today, and we are here to close it.”
Why Nova Scotia
Spaceport Nova Scotia is Canada’s first licensed commercial orbital launch complex and one of the few sites in the Western Hemisphere offering safe over-ocean trajectories to mid-inclination and polar orbits — critical for Earth observation, communications and defence missions. Maritime Launch has designed the site as a multi-user, multi-mission facility rather than an exclusive complex, meaning multiple launch providers can eventually share the infrastructure. “By combining Isar Aerospace’s launch vehicle, Spectrum, with Spaceport Nova Scotia’s licensed infrastructure, we are creating the conditions for reliable orbital launch services from Canada,” said Maritime Launch CEO Stephen Matier.
A NATO-timed signal
Signing the agreement at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum is not incidental. Allied governments are actively rebuilding sovereign launch chains after years of dependence on a single U.S. provider, a shift also visible in the recent $5.6 billion NSSL Lane 1 additions. For Canada, the deal is the clearest sign yet that its sovereign-launch strategy is moving from policy documents to construction schedules. For Isar, it means Spectrum will fly not just from Norway but from an allied continent that gives it access to a completely different set of orbital inclinations.
Reporting based on coverage from Isar Aerospace, Maritime Launch Services, SpaceNews and CBC News.