As US relations fray, Canada gets serious about its own launch industry

I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long.

The U.S. refused to launch Radarsat-2[1] in 1999 because they felt it "posed a threat to U.S. national security"[2]. The Canadian government had to waste several years and a lot of money to get the satellite launched by Russia instead. Relying on Russia for launch capability ceased to be a good idea long before the most recent invasion of Ukraine. It was obviously a problem by the time Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.

Alternatives to Russia or the U.S. for launching satellites are clearly needed, especially with the U.S. now openly launching weapons into space. This may be a situation where it would make sense for the EU and Canada to partner.

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radarsat-2

[2]https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/nasa-refuses-to-launch-canad...