This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.
In August of this year, Rahul Goel will stand on the rocky cliffs of St. Lawrence, NL, watching a plume of fire rip across the sky.
If everything goes right, his company, NordSpace, will make history by orchestrating Canada’s first commercial rocket launch.
Canada was the fourth nation in the world to launch a satellite into space, helped pioneer aerospace engineering, and famously built the Canadarm. But for all its expertise, Canada has never launched a rocket from its own soil. Every satellite, every national security payload, every commercial launch is outsourced, mostly to the US.
“When we have our own Apollo moment—when kids in Canada see a rocket launch from their own country—we can do anything.”
Rahul Goel
NordSpace
“Our national sovereignty, our national defence, security, are all on the line,” he said. “When we have our own Apollo moment—when kids in Canada see a rocket launch from their own country—we can do anything.”
Goel grew up in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood, building robots and dreaming of space. A first-generation immigrant, his parents came to Canada from India shortly before he was born. He remembers being viscerally disappointed as a child when he learned that his country had no real space launch program of its own.
Through NordSpace, he is working to change that.
In just two years, the NordSpace team has designed, built, and test-fired a liquid-fuelled rocket engine, something no private Canadian company has done at this scale. The company’s approach leans on precision 3D printing, aerospace-grade materials, and in-house propulsion engineering.
About 20 people work at the NordSpace headquarters in Markham. Many individuals across his companies have been friends with Goel since childhood, having met at William Lyon McKenzie Collegiate Institute, where they were all part of the MaCS Program, designed for young people with an interest in math, science, and technology.
The team receives a regular stream of fan mail from Canadian school kids who say that they want to grow up and be a part of the effort.
Finding people to finance the work has not come as easily.
Early on his space journey, Goel realized that few people were likely to bankroll his dreams.
So after graduating in 2016 with a degree in aerospace engineering and experience as a junior mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., he decided to do it himself.
Goel has bootstrapped two companies with the express intention of using their revenue to fund his sovereign space launch ambitions.
In addition to NordSpace, he runs a SaaS company, PheedLoop, and a genetic technology company called Genepika that uses DNA-based molecules for portable diagnostic tools.
Through those ventures, he has invested approximately $10 million into NordSpace, where he spends the majority of his time.
To say Goel is energized by his mission is an understatement of galactic scale. While he was standing up his other companies, he saved money by living in his car. While running NordSpace, he continues to pursue his PhD, working part-time with Professor Jonathan Kelly at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, within the Space Terrestrial Autonomous Robotic Systems (STARS) Lab. He also spends time looking out for his two younger siblings, who are also engineers.
When it comes to getting Canada into the space race, Goel said the biggest obstacles aren’t financial or even technical.
It’s finding institutional partners similarly willing to shoot for the stars.
The NordSpace team is navigating through a regulatory maze with Transport Canada, tackling the heavy lifting required for a full-scale orbital-class mission. The Canadian government has offered encouragement but little else, according to Goel.
“It’s new to the Canadian government from a regulatory standpoint as well,” said Goel. “We’re working to get the first commercial space launch licence, even though we’re not going to orbit for this first flight, because it’s critical that we kick the tires and test the process.”
Meanwhile, other countries with smaller populations have already achieved velocity. Sweden, Portugal, and New Zealand have homegrown space industries, with the latter regularly launching payloads while Canada’s feet remain firmly planted on the ground.
NordSpace, however, has started its own countdown. Private capital moves faster than government grants, and a launchpad on Canadian soil would mean satellite operators no longer have to wait for permission.
Goel believes a successful full-scale launch from Newfoundland will be a turning point, not just for the startup, but for the country.
Earlier this year, he hosted a series of community consultations in Newfoundland, building buy-in for the project and explaining his desire to do something that creates a sense of pride for all Canadians.
“I hadn’t seen an ocean for I don’t know how long,” he said of his trip. “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. And you’re standing there, imagining the future.”
Feature image courtesy NordSpace.
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