OTTAWA, Ontario — In a move to align industrial execution with federal regulation, NordSpace Corp announced on July 2 the opening of a strategic office in the nation’s capital. To lead the new Ottawa branch, Canada’s premier vertically integrated space missions company has tapped Elsa Henchiri as Vice President of Policy and Government Relations.
Henchiri joins the private sector following a distinguished 25-year career in federal service, most recently serving as Transport Canada’s Director of Safety Policy and Intelligence, where she directly pioneered the regulatory framework underpinning the modern Canadian Space Launch Act.
Moving Rules From Paper into Practice
The appointment of Henchiri is a calculated tactical play by NordSpace to clear the highly complex airspace, national security, and public safety hurdles that have historically kept Canada from achieving independent orbital access.
As the primary architect of the country’s commercial space launch safety program, Henchiri is uniquely positioned to fast-track NordSpace’s regulatory approvals. Her core mandate centers on securing the operational and launch licenses required to bring sovereign Canadian orbital launches online by 2028.
“I helped write the regulatory framework for this industry. Now I want to help build it. Sovereign launch capability is critical for Canada, and NordSpace is making that possible,”
– Elsa Henchiri, Nordspace Vice President of Policy and Government Relations.
The NordSpace Integrated Footprint
The addition of the Ottawa branch establishes NordSpace’s fourth core national hub, cementing its footprint across the Canadian aerospace landscape. The capital location will operate strictly as a policy, government relations, and defense-procurement center, linking directly back to the company’s manufacturing and testing facilities.
NordSpace Cross-Canada Infrastructure
| Location | Facility / Site Designation | Primary Operational Role |
| Markham, ON | Rocket Factory 1 (RF-1) | 60,000 sq ft Advanced Manufacturing Campus; builds Tundra/Tundra+ vehicles and Hadfield-150 engines. |
| Eastern Ontario | Area 66 | 50-acre Propulsion Test Range; hosts Darkhorse and Blackhawk engine test cells. |
| St. Lawrence, NL | Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX) | Dedicated commercial orbital spaceport featuring Space Launch Complexes SLC-01 and SLC-02. |
| Ottawa, ON | Capital Headquarters | Policy Advocacy, Federal Licensing, ISED Spectrum Coordination, and DND/CSA Business Development. |
“Front-loading these matters is vital, because a rocket that is ready for the launch pad but unable to fly is not a launch capability…Orbital space launch is completely new for Canada… That requires the people writing the rules to be talking to the people actually building the vehicles. Elsa brings both sides of that equation to NordSpace.”
– Rahul Goel, CEO and Founder of NordSpace
Path to Orbit: The Taiga Pathfinder
Before Attempting full orbital insertion with its light-lift Tundra and medium-lift Tundra+ rockets, NordSpace is preparing to launch its Taiga pathfinder rocket on a series of suborbital flights from the Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX) in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The upcoming Taiga flight campaign serves two highly specific testing functions:
- The Technical Testbed: Retiring hardware risk by stress-testing flight-critical avionics, guidance logic, composite structures, and recovery systems destined for the larger orbital vehicles.
- The Regulatory Exercises: Running the first live, real-world deployment of Canada’s Commercial Space Launch licensing regime. The flights will build critical “institutional muscle memory” for day-of-launch coordination between NordSpace operators and federal bodies like NAV Canada and Transport Canada.
Strategic Focus on Dual-Use Defense Programs
Beyond commercial telecommunications and Earth-observation markets, the Ottawa office will place an immediate emphasis on secure, dual-use defense initiatives. The move positions NordSpace to capitalize on a wave of domestic military space spending, spearheaded by Canada’s updated Defence Industrial Strategy released in February 2026.
Under Henchiri’s leadership, the company will aggressively pursue high-priority government portfolios, including the Department of National Defence’s (DND) IDEaS Launch the North program, NORAD modernization initiatives, Arctic maritime surveillance, and emergency tactical responsive launch mandates under NATO STARLIFT.
