Company founders Sohrab Haghighat and his wife Saharnaz Safari Photo Submitted

Canada’s First Commercial Rocket Engine Testing Facility

Rocket Engine Testing/Groundworks Facility Located near Warkworth

Municipality Gave the Green Light to SpaceRyde for Groundworks Facility in 2021

Article by Sue Dickens

Trent Hills, ON – Did you know there’s a place on County Road 29, a few minutes west of Warkworth where SpaceRyde is testing a Canadian rocket engine?

As it turns out, an open house is happening at SpaceRyde’s groundworks facility, at 13362 County Road 29, on Sept. 17, 2022, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Trent Hills Now spoke to Sohrab Haghighat, the co-founder and CEO of SpaceRyde, about SpaceRyde, their big plans and their connection to Trent Hills. He and his wife Saharnaz Safari started this company together.

SpaceRyde is building space launch capability for Canada. “Access to space is critical to Canada. Today, when we build space technologies, we rely on other nations’ rockets to get our technologies to space” explained Sohrab. “Without a Canadian rocket, Canada will always have to wait in line.”

Sohrab says that Canada has taken a back seat to long-established American companies, but SpaceRyde is here to change that.

The company began its journey in 2018. “In the past four years, we have created more than 30 jobs in Canada and have demonstrated many Canadian historic firsts,” Sohrab explained. “In 2019, SpaceRyde was awarded the first launch licence that Canada had issued in 21 years.

“Our Warkworth testing facility is Canada’s first commercial state-of-the-art engine groundworks facility, designed based on NASA standards.”

So what is a Canadian rocket company doing in Warkworth?

SpaceRyde’s groundworks facility on County Road 29 is Canada’s first commercial rocket engine testing facility. It consists of two concrete pads with safety walls, sound-reduction enclosures and a shipping container for staff. To build and maintain this facility, SpaceRyde has exclusively hired local businesses and contributed over $0.5M to the local economy since starting in 2021.

Sohrab said, “We approached the municipality about our plans and explained what we were doing, our aspirations and how we want to serve our country. We also explained the benefits of SpaceRyde’s operations to the local economy and got the green light. After the facility was built, we welcomed local regulators and safety stakeholders including members of the municipality, the fire department and city council for a tour of the facility.”

SpaceRyde’s unique green fuel technology means that no explosive materials are required in their tests nor stored on the property. Instead, their proprietary hybrid engine uses liquid oxygen and paraffin wax.

“This facility is a source of pride for our team, and we are working to make it a source of pride for the Warkworth community, too” says Sohrab.

He explained that the family of the original landowner is still farming more than 95% of their land at no cost to the farmer. They also created a phone tree of opted-in contacts that are made aware of each test to ensure transparency amongst the community.

“We are committed to the Warkworth community and have acted promptly any time a concern was raised by a community member. For example, since a few neighbors raised noise level concerns, we have measured sound levels at every test. The measurements showed that the sound levels are within the limits of the rural area (levels similar to that of farming machinery).

Municipal authorities have also attended multiple tests, and independently performed sound measurements from different locations, coming to the same conclusion. However, we decided to take further action, and installed quonset huts a few months ago to reduce the noise even further.” says Sohrab

Trent Hills Mayor Bob Crate told Trent Hills Now, “We’ve attended most of their tests to do noise noise level readings.”

SpaceRyde tests are infrequent and short. According to SpaceRyde, the total duration of engine tests performed to date at its Warkworth facility is less than 5 minutes, with each test lasting no more than a minute.

SpaceRyde’s team is currently 30 people and commutes to Warkworth to run their tests. Sohrab explains that due to the nature of their work, they need to keep the team working together at their rocket factory headquarters in Concord.

However, as they grow their team over the next year, the company plans to hire local talent to manage the Warkworth facility.

The world’s first sustainable launch system

At the core of SpaceRyde’s business is the belief that the development of the space economy shouldn’t come at a cost to the earth’s environment. That is why they have developed the first environmentally-friendly launch system.

They use stratospheric balloons that lift the rocket above 99% of the atmosphere before launching, eliminating combustion inside the atmosphere and keeping the ozone layer safe.

After reaching the desired orbit, SpaceRyde rocket delivers the cargo and remains powered, in space, ready to perform additional missions without ever re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.

“We are the only sustainable way to get cargo to and from space. This is very important to us, and we have received funding from the Government of Canada to develop this technology as there is a global need for green launch technologies.” said Sohrab.

Ribbon Cutting with Col. Chris Hadfield. Photo Credit ROBERT SKUJA

The opening of Canada’s first orbital rocket factory

SpaceRyde celebrated the opening of the first Canadian orbital rocket factory in Concord on June 21, 2022. World-famous Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield attended and endorsed SpaceRyde at the event by saying, “I think it’s time Canada takes a ride on SpaceRyde!”

According to reports online at blogTO, SpaceRyde plans to run weekly launches to low-earth-orbit by 2025, and the expected cost per private trip is $250,000. If all goes smoothly, their first mission to the moon will take place in 2024.

“We want the community of Trent Hills to be proud of its exciting role in building Canada’s space story,” explains Haghighat. “Because of the work being done in Trent Hills, Canadians will be able to play a part and profit from the development of the $1T space economy.”

He concludes, “Right now, access to space is a luxury, but in 20 years, access to space will be a necessity.”

 

Community Open House

SpaceRyde is hosting a community open house at their engine groundworks facility on Sept. 17, 2022, from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The company invites community members to come and enjoy local treats, a Q&A and take a tour of their groundworks facility, including a look at a real orbital rocket engine. No testing will be taking place during the event. The event is family-friendly.

The address is SpaceRyde Groundworks Facility, 13362 County Road 29, Warkworth.

Mayor Bob Crate noted, “It will be great for people to see what they’re doing.”

Can’t make it? No worries! You can follow their rocket engine developments and tests on their social media channels (Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitter

Editor’s Note - UPDATE: As a result of a lot of social media comments following publication of this article and a petition being circulated questioning the company’s statements we spoke to Trent Hills Mayor Bob Crate for clarification. He said. “We are very aware of the situation. At this point SpaceRyde is in compliance of all bylaws.”

As well this information information was provided to all of the Certified Candidates, as a question was posed with respect to SpaceRyde. It was also provided to Trent Hills Now.

Q – Compliance with By-laws by SpaceRyde, 13362 County Road 29, Warkworth?

A – SpaceRyde operates in compliance with the Municipality’s Zoning By-law.

To date SpaceRyde has conducted 17 tests with a total time of 200 seconds. Duration of the testing to date has been between 2 to 20 seconds per test. The testing has been conducted 1-3 times per month, general between 2:00-4:00 pm.

Municipal staff have attend 16 of the 17 tests, and have conducted sound monitoring from various sites within a 2 km area.

The dB readings during the tests have ranged from 54.4 to 99.8 dB. The loudest reading was obtained directly across from the subject property on the County Road.

Comparison of Sound levels:

  • 50-60 dB – ambient room noise
  • 90-95 dB – transport truck, farming equipment (Harvester/Combine), Motorcycle (Harley Davidson/Indian)/automobile with a loud exhaust

The Fire Department has inspected the site on multiple locations, and has confirmed that no explosive/flammable materials are used or stored on site. The ignition source is a mixture of liquid oxygen and paraffin wax.

There are no compliance issues with the operations at the SpaceRyde site and the Municipal By-laws.