[AR] Re: The end of Virgin Orbit
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2023 01:40:09 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 31 Mar 2023, Alain Fournier wrote:
For the particular case of Canada, we are already about to have a
spaceport: https://www.maritimelaunch.com I would be very surprised if
Canada bought a competitor to that private enterprise.
Canada isn't quite as adamant as the US about not competing with private
industry. I'd say a more fundamental obstacle is that it would pretty
much have to be a Canadian Space Agency project... and CSA has long taken
it as gospel that "thou shalt not do propulsion of any kind, and certainly
not launchers".
Getting the critical *personnel* back would probably be the hardest
part.
I agree.
There is also an awkward practical problem with that: probably all of
them are US citizens, and so the US government thinks any work they do is
covered by US export control even if it's done outside the country. That
would make any foreign ownership complicated and messy. No, long-time
allies are not exempt from this. (Once Canada *did* have very nearly a
blanket exemption from US export hassles, by special agreement dating to
the early Cold War, but not any more.) This would be an issue even for
Branson -- he's apparently sometimes hit export-control snags in his
involvement with Virgin Galactic.
Henry
Other related posts: