Why it matters: Moving to Canada’s senior exchange gives the developer of the country’s first commercial orbital launch site a bigger platform with investors. That matters as it builds infrastructure that National Defence has agreed to lease for the next decade.

Driving the news: Maritime Launch Services has received final approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) to list its common shares. Trading opens Nov. 3 under the symbol MAXQ, and the shares stop trading on Cboe Canada when markets close Nov. 2.

The move follows the conditional approval the company announced in mid-October. Its CUSIP and ISIN numbers stay the same, and shareholders don’t need to do anything.

What they’re saying: Stephen Matier, president and CEO of Maritime Launch, said the listing will give the company more visibility with the investment community.

“We are building strategic national infrastructure that can connect Canada to the global space economy and provide sovereign access to space from Canadian soil. The TSX listing is another key milestone as we execute on that vision,” Matier said.

By the numbers:

The bigger picture: In March, National Defence signed a 10-year, $200-million agreement to lease a dedicated launch pad at the spaceport near Canso, N.S. Maritime Launch says it expects the pad to reach initial operational readiness by the end of 2026.

In July, Germany’s Isar Aerospace agreed to build a dedicated launch complex at the site for its Spectrum rocket. The two companies finalized the statement of work in September and are targeting their first orbital launches from Nova Scotia in 2028.

The listing puts Maritime Launch on the same exchange as Canadian space and defence companies such as MDA Space, Telesat and Calian Group.

Background: Maritime Launch is designing Spaceport Nova Scotia to serve both civil and defence missions, putting small and medium launch vehicles into low Earth orbit. In June, the site hosted a suborbital launch demonstration of T-Minus Engineering’s Barracuda vehicle.

What’s next: The company’s near-term milestone is having DND’s dedicated pad ready by year-end. Orbital launches with Isar are still about two years away.