For 55 years, research has been conducted from sounding rockets and balloons from Esrange outside Kiruna. Balloons have flown high in the atmosphere, rockets have in some cases gone into space but then fallen back to the ground and landed with a parachute. They haven't stayed up there.
When the new launch pad is completed, hopefully next year, rockets up to 45 meters high will be able to take off from there and place satellites in orbit around the Earth. The starting shots will be very noticeable in Kiruna and the surrounding area.
"We get a unique ability that not many people have. We can put together satellite and rocket here, we can launch and once the cargo is left in space we can steer it into the right orbit. And then also take down the data," says Strategy Manager Stefan Gustafsson at SSC.
Within the EU, only France has a larger plant today, Kourou in French Guiana on the coast of South America.