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North Bay goes stratospheric this fall

The City of North Bay and Canadore College are expected to unveil the activities planned for the community’s inaugural Space Week in early October.
airbus-soar_Cropped
The City of North Bay and Canadore College are expected to unveil the activities planned for the community’s inaugural Space Week in early October.

The City of North Bay and Canadore College are expected to unveil the activities planned for the community’s inaugural Space Week in early October.

Mayor Al MacDonald and Canadore president George Burton, Space Week co-chairs, are scheduled to speak at a May 22 press conference at the college’s aviation campus at Jack Garland Airport.

Rolf Brandt, a representative of S3, a Swiss satellite company now domiciled at the airport, will speak on the company’s upcoming round of tests of its new satellite delivery system and its plans for a space tourism attraction featuring zero gravity flights.

The event, to be branded as YYB North Bay World Space Week, is intended to mirror the General Assembly of the United Nations’ declaration that Oct. 4 to 10 will be World Space Week, which will annually celebrate the contributions of space, science and technology on bettering the human condition.

Locally, North Bay will celebrate it as a three-day event for industry players and education of the general public.

Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Jay Aspin, the chair of the federal government’s space caucus, will make a funding announcement in support of Space Week and the company.

The college is partnering with the European satellite company on testing its new technology designed to deliver small satellites into orbit.

The Payerne, Switzerland-based firm is developing a reusable suborbital rocket-powered vehicle called the SOAR shuttle which is designed to carry and launch satellites of up to 250 kilograms from its payload bay. Using drone technology, the unmanned shuttle will be delivered to high altitudes by piggybacking aboard a modified Airbus A300 jet.