China has launched its first fully owned overseas satellite ground station near the North Pole which could enable Beijing to collect satellite data anywhere on the Earth. The Chinese Academy of Sciences says, the facility located in Sweden, about 200 kms north of the Arctic Circle, would allow China to collect satellite data at speed that is more than twice as fast as before. <br/><br/>The new facility would play an important role in China's Gaofen project – a network of observation satellites orbiting the Earth to provide global surveillance capabilities. The fully-owned overseas ground station in Sweden will also give China much greater freedom and security to operate its space projects.