Ontario Construction News staff writer
Canada Rocket Company is establishing a $30-million rocket testing facility at London International Airport, a project expected to create at least 40 jobs over the next 18 months.
The Toronto-based company marked the establishment of the Jeremy Hansen Rocket Test Facility on Oct. 1 with Invest Ontario. The 12,000-square-foot facility will test and validate rocket technologies designed and developed in Ontario.
The company is developing a reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The facility will allow it to test critical rocket systems and improve their design, safety and performance.
“This $30-million facility will provide the infrastructure needed to test and validate critical rocket systems and will create at least 40 new highly skilled jobs over the next 18 months,” Rob Flack said in a statement.
Hugh Kolias, CEO and co-founder of Canada Rocket Company, said the facility will help the company turn its engineering designs into working hardware.
“Canada’s path to its own access to space starts on the ground, in facilities like this one,” Kolias said.
The facility is expected to support a broader vehicle development program projected to generate approximately 1,000 jobs and attract more than $1 billion in additional investment over the next decade.
Invest Ontario supported the project through site selection and permitting assistance, introductions to strategic partners and connections with local stakeholders and post-secondary institutions, working with the London Economic Development Corporation.
CRC is also developing training and workforce partnerships with Western University and Fanshawe College to help prepare workers for jobs in the aerospace sector.
The facility is named after Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The project builds on Ontario’s aerospace and manufacturing capabilities, supported by more than 94,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates annually and Canada’s largest defence sector by employment, according to Invest Ontario.
