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Peter Rakobowchuk, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Whether Canada should
have its own space-launch facility is a debate that's been making the rounds in
the scientific and business communities for years without any progress being
made.
But that hasn't stopped Redouane Fakir as he develops a proposal to build the
first-ever rocket launch site on Canada's west coast.
His dream is to eventually make Vancouver Island Canada's future hub for
space science and exploration - once he lines up the cash, local co-operation,
and government approval.
The astrophysicist already has his eye on a site, even at this early stage:
Estevan Point, an isolated peninsula halfway down the west coast of the
island.
Fakir says he wants to build a "parking-lot-sized" launch pad that would send
Canadian space probes into a polar orbit.
"If you want to optimize the safety of when we launch into this polar orbit
that will get you on top of the Arctic, you can launch over the Pacific Ocean in
a south-southwest direction," he told The Canadian Press.
Fakir says the platform, which could also be used to send up scientific
balloons, would not be busy all the time.
Fakir wants to make it clear - especially to environmentalists - that he
doesn't intend to build a huge complex like the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.
"In the beginning, we'll be lucky if we have one launch a year and then maybe
two or three a year," said the director of Space Launch Canada. He is also an
honourary professor of theoretical physics at the University of British
Columbia.
He believes a half-dozen towns, including Port Alberni, Campbell River and
Comox, could each house one aspect of the program.
"For example, Campbell River has ambitions to develop higher education and a
research program could be developed in collaboration with the university up
there," Fakir said.
Vic Goodman, the CEO of Rivercorp, the Campbell River Economic Development
Corporation, says he's been invited to meet with Fakir but the project hasn't
gotten very far yet.
"It's too early for us to comment on the pros and cons of his concept," he
said. "We're willing to keep an open mind about the idea."
Fakir argues that there are advantages to Canada having its own launch
facility, instead of relying on the rockets of other countries like India and
Russia.
The current international tug-of-war over Arctic sovereignty is a good case
in point.
"If you want to be serious about your sovereignty over the North you have to
have space autonomy like the other players, and to do that the minimum is to
launch devices from your own territory," Fakir said.
Ian McDade, a York University space scientist, believes launch delays - and
the cost of sending up satellites - could be reduced if Canada had its own
facility.
He points to one of his own experiments, which involved an instrument that
measures wind in the stratosphere.
"We won a competition with the Japanese to go for a free launch on one of
their satellites," he recalled.
"We were all ready to go, probably spent $8 million just doing the paperwork,
then they had their own problems and a couple of failures (and) we got bumped
off."
McDade says the European Space Agency and the Russians tried putting the
instrument on a satellite, but after two years of engineering discovered that it
wasn't compatible.
"If we had our own launch capability, you would shortcut all that," he said.
"It would make it better and cheaper in the end."
A more recent example is NEOSSat, a Canadian satellite which was originally
supposed to be launched in March to look for potentially dangerous
asteroids.
A Canadian Space Agency official says the launch of the $15 million
suitcase-sized satellite has now been delayed until the first quarter of
2012.
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