Post by Joe on Nov 7, 2007 1:34:28 GMT -5
The federal government is considering funnelling $45 million into a plan to build a rocket launch pad in Nova Scotia, according to a report published Friday in the Globe and Mail.
The Globe, citing anonymous sources, said the funding would not be a federal subsidy, but would instead come from the proceeds of a special agreement the federal government made when signing a $3.2-billion contract last year with U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
One of the projects Lockheed has offered to invest in is a $150-million tentative plan to build a commercial launch pad in Cape Breton that would send rockets into space to service space stations and carry tourists.
PlanetSpace of Chicago previously announced it was talking to the Nova Scotia government about possible launch sites for its Silver Dart spacecraft, named after the first plane to fly in Canada. The original Silver Dart, backed by telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, lifted off from a frozen lake in Baddeck, N.S., in February 1909.
PlanetSpace has asked Fred Doucet, who was a senior official in the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, to help them secure the $45 million funding, the Globe reported.
Neither the government, nor PlanetSpace, has publicly confirmed the tentative funding deal.
www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/10/26/launch-pad.html
The Globe, citing anonymous sources, said the funding would not be a federal subsidy, but would instead come from the proceeds of a special agreement the federal government made when signing a $3.2-billion contract last year with U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
One of the projects Lockheed has offered to invest in is a $150-million tentative plan to build a commercial launch pad in Cape Breton that would send rockets into space to service space stations and carry tourists.
PlanetSpace of Chicago previously announced it was talking to the Nova Scotia government about possible launch sites for its Silver Dart spacecraft, named after the first plane to fly in Canada. The original Silver Dart, backed by telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, lifted off from a frozen lake in Baddeck, N.S., in February 1909.
PlanetSpace has asked Fred Doucet, who was a senior official in the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, to help them secure the $45 million funding, the Globe reported.
Neither the government, nor PlanetSpace, has publicly confirmed the tentative funding deal.
www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/10/26/launch-pad.html
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