Grants and Contributions

Funding will support research and development to identify solutions to National Defence’s Challenge: Launch the North: Accelerating Canada’s sovereign access to space. The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) aims to build a resilient and future-ready Canadian space ecosystem, one that ensures Canada’s security, prosperity, and leadership in the space domain.

The purpose of the Canadian International Innovation Program (CIIP) grant agreement is to support Canadian SMEs identify international partners in CIIP target countries for industrial research and development collaboration that has good potential for commercialization.

This project will support testing of Reaction Dynamics’ in-space propulsion system built to enhance satellite agility. The propulsion system, a 1N Hydrogen Peroxide monopropellant system, promises high density impulse and lower toxicity than current standards.

The demonstration will assess various functionalities and performance, including orbit maintenance, altitude and inclination changes, collision avoidance and re-entry, crucial for space missions. Additionally, it will enable a satellite to quickly and precisely maneuver to support the demonstration of inter-satellite links on the host platform.

Reaction Dynamics will be developing space mobility solutions based around a novel hybrid rocket engine technology, enabling Reaction Dynamics to sell launch services and dedicated orbital transfer vehicles at a fraction of the cost of competitors. The focus of this project is to support this effort by developing and demonstrating a lightweight, large-size composite propellant tank. This project will build on the previous work done on composite pressure vessels, culminating in a full scale experimentally demonstrated design.

Reaction Dynamics (RDX) is developing a hybrid rocket engine that will power a low cost, eco-friendly, orbital launch vehicle. A key part of this endeavour is the development of a carbon neutral fuel for the rocket engine. The following project has for main goal the selection of a fuel mixture that will maximize performance, while being made of bioderived polymers. Of key interest are determining the thermal, mechanical, and transport properties (specific heat, heat of combustion, thermal conductivity, strength, etc), that are required for best performance in RDX’s engines. Then, working with a bioderived polymer supplier, RDX will manufacture a fuel with net-zero emissions and test it in a demonstrator rocket engine.

Equipment acquisition and innovation activities: The project aims to improve productivity, greening operations, and to allow the company, specialized in offering green rocket launch solution for small satellites, to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

Equipment acquisition and innovation activities: The project aims to improve productivity, greening operations, and to allow the company, specialized in offering green rocket launch solution for small satellites, to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

This project aims to advance the state of Reaction Dynamics’ (RDX) proprietary hybrid rocket technology for the production of an orbital transportation system. The project will focus on providing a technology demonstration of RDX’s orbital hybrid engine (RE-20X) in an in-flight configuration. The flight demonstration includes the key hybrid rocket technologies achieving in-space flight capability. Objectives of this project include: validation to TRL 7 of the fluid systems, hybrid thrust chamber, and avionics control of the propulsion system. Activities supporting the objectives include: integrating the hybrid engine, modifying and integrating the avionics, adapting the fluid systems, and performing an integrated stage test. Reaction Dynamics is in a unique position with respect to this project as being itself a launch provider. The demonstration aims for commercial orbital launches using the demonstrated systems and rapid growth.

The growing small satellite market calls for reliable, affordable launch services to get spacecraft to orbit quickly and safely, but the current availability of these services is limited.
To address this issue, Reaction Dynamics' launch vehicle is designed to provide launch services dedicated to transporting smaller payloads into orbit. The startup's technological breakthrough makes hybrid rocket engines feasible for orbital launch applications. These hybrid rocket engines reduce part count dramatically, enabling shorter lead times at significantly lower costs when compared to other technologies. The new launch vehicle will include state-of-the-art guidance, navigation, and thrust vector control to direct the thrust of its rocket engine and guide its own course to a specific orbit. Among other critical technologies, this contribution will support the development of a reliable, low-cost flight computer and software to autonomously control the launch vehicle during flight and test the system on the ground. It will also lead to spin-off technology applications for the automotive and aerospace industries, creating new business opportunities and jobs.