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You are here: Home / Blog / SpaceRyde Builds the First Taxi to Space for Satellites and Cargo

SpaceRyde Builds the First Taxi to Space for Satellites and Cargo

April 5, 2021 RICCentre

In 2019, SpaceRyde received the first rocket launch permit Canada had issued in 21 years and that moment marked a season of change and growth for the startup.

Team Photo 2019

About SpaceRyde

SpaceRyde is the first company to offer affordable taxi rides for satellites and cargo to space. Their disruptive balloon/rocket launch technology allows on-demand launch from any place around the world. They customize missions for each customer without the need to ride share with others, and they do that at an unbeatable price. The space economy is projected to be in the trillions in the near future, and SpaceRyde’s affordable taxi will enable this massive growth.

“The human race is bound to be extinct if we solely rely on the Earth’s limited resources. To avoid this threat of extinction, we need to use resources buried near and far in outer space. To make this happen, we need a reliable and frequent mode of transportation between the Earth and outer space to send equipment and return resources. SpaceRyde will make this possible,” CEO, Sohrab Haghighat said.

SpaceRyde was founded in September of 2018 with the founder’s personal savings. CEO, Sohrab Haghighat, is a serial entrepreneur who came back to Canada after a successful career in the United States to pioneer the launch industry in Canada. With the help of expert advisors like Jeff Thornburg, VP of SpaceX, the SpaceRyde team was able to build and fly the first balloon/rocket prototype in June of 2019. During this time, they also built their reusable orbital rocket carrier and mobile ground communications system which qualified it for launch in just one year.

Over the past few years, they’ve been able to build their exclusive rocket testing facility. SpaceRyde is the only space launch company in North America that has its own test facilities in seed stage. Because of this growth, SpaceRyde was able to double the size of their team during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re currently sitting at 19 staff, of those 15 are engineers.

Team Photo 2021

“RIC Centre has a great support system for entrepreneurs. Pam, specifically, has been instrumental in introducing SpaceRyde to the Canadian space community which has led to SpaceRyde being the first company in MDA’s LaunchPad program and receiving support from this great Canadian space company,” said Sohrab.

In addition to their support from RIC Centre, SpaceRyde’s investors include YCombinator and other prominent space investors. They are also supported by the Government of Canada through contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the National Research Council of Canada. 

SpaceRyde has their first orbital launch planned for 2022.

For more information on how you can become a RIC Centre client, click here.

About the Author

Kierstyn Pare

Now Creative Group

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