a spaceport licence. our correspondent laura goodwin has more details. as you might imagine, getting to the most northern point in the uk is a bit of a mission in itself. first up, a flight from mainland uk. then onto one ferry and then onto another ferry, before you reach your final destination. but its remoteness is just one of the reasons unst in shetland could soon become something of a super highway that way. once part of an raf radar base, the land was bought by frank strang and his wife around 15 years ago. never in my wildest dreams did i think we d be building a spaceport. it s all about geography and location, location, location. and we re the most northern tip of the united kingdom. so when we launch, we re launching over sea. we ve got a clear trajectory
rock into space from an island first rock into space from an island north of the scottish mainland. the land on unst, one of the shetland islands, was bought by a husband and wife team 15 years ago. now the site could now be just weeks away from securing a spaceport licence. our correspondent laura goodwin has more details. this is the most northern tip of the united kingdom, unst, in the shetland isles. it s home to 700 people, plenty of sheep, even a pod of orca whales, and soon could also be the base for the uk s first vertical spaceport. this launch pad behind me, launch pad freda, could soon have a 29m rocket on top of it, carrying small satellites into space. it s one of three that have been built here at the saxavord space centre and their hope is that this could soon become a pivotal part of the uk s space programme. many people are wanting to get small satellites into space to help with connectivity and also weather and climate monitoring. they are awaiting final approvals
so we really need a live data climate model of our planet and that s only possible with supervision and monitoring from space. that is what we need these satellites for. less than 700 people live on unst and it s hoped the spaceport might bring morejobs and more people to the island. speaking as an islander, i m just really, really keen for this project to happen. i m giving it everything i can to ensure that this build happens and the spaceport is operational. because, for the islanders, it s sort of a lifeline. the population has gone down, and down, and down. it s halved since 1999, and we need economic and social activity on the island to ensure its viability. unst is already a place of immense natural beauty and ancient heritage. this burial site was recently discovered not far from the launch pad. few places in the world can boast bronze age and space age sitting side by side. laura goodwin, bbc news.