Launch Canada Receives $1.2 Million in Federal Funding to Expand National Rocketry Talent Development

[Mississauga, 16 August 2026] Launch Canada Rocketry Association is pleased to announce $1.2 million in funding from the Department of National Defence’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security program.

The contribution will support Launch Canada’s National Rocketry Talent and Workforce Development Program, expanding hands-on education, training, technical infrastructure, and industry engagement opportunities for students and emerging aerospace professionals from across Canada. The program is designed to strengthen Canada’s long-term sovereign space-launch capability by building a sustainable national talent pipeline and workforce ecosystem.

Launch Canada has spent years building a national ecosystem for hands-on aerospace engineering and rocketry skills development. Today, the organization works with a broad cross-section of Canada’s aerospace sector, from established aerospace companies to emerging launch-vehicle startups, and has become an important source of skilled early-career talent for Canadian industry.

The new funding will allow Launch Canada to build on that foundation by expanding its annual rocket engineering challenge, training and credentialing programs, launch and testing infrastructure, applied technology projects, and outreach initiatives. Together, these activities will give more Canadians opportunities to develop practical experience in propulsion, manufacturing, testing, launch operations, safety, systems engineering, and related disciplines, while reducing financial and geographic barriers to participation.

“Launch Canada was founded on the belief that building a world-class Canadian space sector starts with giving people opportunities to develop real, hands-on skills,” said Adam Trumpour, President of Launch Canada. “This investment allows us to take what we have built over the past several years and bring it to an entirely new level, reaching more Canadians, strengthening our connections with industry, and developing the training, infrastructure, and technical capabilities needed to support Canada’s future in space launch.”

While Launch Canada’s participants and partners span the country, Northern Ontario has become an important home for its hands-on activities, and it hopes to build on that partnership. With support from the City of Timmins and Mattagami First Nation, the region hosts Launch Canada’s annual rocket engineering challenge, bringing together students and industry professionals from across Canada.

Launch Canada sees this investment as an important foundation for a growing relationship with DND and the IDEaS program, and for continued development of Canada’s space-launch workforce and capabilities in the years ahead.

About Launch Canada

Launch Canada Rocketry Association is a national non-profit organization dedicated to advancing Canadian rocketry, space-launch capability, and aerospace talent through hands-on engineering, education, competition, and collaboration.

About IDEaS

Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security is an innovation program that invests in research and technology aimed at meeting the demands of today’s complex global defence and security environment. Since launching in April 2018, IDEaS has worked with Canadian innovators to turn innovative thinking into tangible solutions for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces.

Quote from the Minister

“Building sovereign space launch capabilities from the ground up means building human capabilities and ensuring we have the right skills, not just the right tools, for the job. This investment is the launch of a space-launch workforce that will take Canada in the right direction for space innovation in the years ahead.”

The Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence

Media contacts

Robin Metcalfe
Director of Media Relations
Launch Canada Rocketry Association
media@launchcanada.org
www.launchcanada.org

Simon Golla
Director of Communications
Launch Canada Rocketry Association
communications@launchcanada.org
www.launchcanada.org