The Launch Canada rocket competition and festival is returning for its second year this August 25 to September 1, in Timmins Ontario. The event brings together Canadian university rocketry teams and space enthusiasts for a multi-day celebration of rocketry, innovation, and community.
The Launch Canada Competition
Launch Canada was founded to provide opportunities for amateur rocketry in Canada, support STEM education, develop aerospace talent, and incentivize new space technologies. The competition creates launch opportunities for amateur rockets and supports student teams across Canada as they gain hands-on experience designing, building, and launching rockets.
The inaugural Launch Canada competition was held in 2022 in Timmins, Ontario. The 2023 edition will take place from August 25-September 1, with the main event happening August 26-27. This year’s competition has been expanded to two days to accommodate the growing number of participating teams.
Over 25 university teams from across Canada are registered to attend Launch Canada 2023. The teams come from schools including Concordia, Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Alberta, York University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Ottawa, and more.
The Stardust Festival
The Launch Canada competition takes place as part of the larger Stardust Festival happening in Timmins. The festival includes rocket launches, safety inspections, talks by industry experts, networking opportunities, a career fair, and other activities related to rocketry and the space industry.
The conference portion will be held at the Cedar Meadows Resort in Timmins. Teams will gather for judging, networking, and presentations before heading to the launch site an hour outside of town. A new dedicated launch site has been cleared to support future growth of the event.
Launch Canada’s Goals
The Launch Canada competition aims to showcase Canadian excellence in rocketry, provide real-world experience to students, and support the growth of Canada’s commercial space sector. Based on the successes of amateur rocketry communities in other countries, the founders believe supporting Canadian amateurs and students is key to growing Canada’s space industry.
The competition ties into larger efforts to facilitate amateur rocket activities in Canada by creating a straightforward regulatory process for approval. It also connects students across the country who are gaining valuable skills through hands-on rocketry projects but often have no way to launch their rockets in Canada.
By bringing the community together and providing launch opportunities, Launch Canada hopes to encourage talented Canadians to pursue rocketry and aerospace careers while retaining their skills in Canada. If the regulatory barriers can be reduced, Launch Canada believes Canadian amateur rocketry could flourish and support new commercial space companies.
