Nova Scotia’s Environment Department has granted an 18-month extension for construction to begin on Canada’s first spaceport.
The department confirms in an email that Maritime Launch Services asked for the extension on Feb. 1 and the request was granted by Environment Minister Keith Irving on Monday.
READ MORE: Nova Scotia spaceport teams with U.S. firm to examine reuse of rockets in space
The province had set a deadline for construction to begin this June, but the company now has until Dec. 3, 2022 to commence work at a site near Canso, located on the northeastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia.
Maritime Launch Services, which plans to launch Ukrainian-built Cyclone rockets with varying payloads for low and high Earth orbits, was granted conditional environmental approval for the project in June, 2019.
Company CEO Steve Matier blames the COVID-19 pandemic for delaying progress last year and says work continues to secure financing and survey the proposed launch site.
Matier says he anticipates construction will begin before the province’s new deadline.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.
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