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Tanegashima Space Center

Overlooking the Osaki Range and Tanegashima Space Center
Location	Mazu, Kukinaga, Minamitane-cho, Kumage-gun, Kagoshima 891-3793, Tanegashima, Japan
Coordinates	30°24′00″N 130°58′12″E / 30.40000°N 130.97000°E / 30.40000; 130.97000Coordinates: 30°24′00″N 130°58′12″E / 30.40000°N 130.97000°E / 30.40000; 130.97000
Owner	JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
Operated by	Cabinet Office (Japan) / Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications · MEXT Ministry · Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Opened	October 1969
Website	spacecenter.org

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite pre-launch, 2014

The launch of H-IIA Flight 11 rocket at the Tanegashima Space Center, 2006.

The Tanegashima Space Center (種子島宇宙センター, Tanegashima Uchū Sentā) (TNSC) is the largest rocket-launch complex in Japan with a total area of about 9,700,000 square meters. It is located on the south east coast of Tanegashima, an island approximately 40 km south of Kyushu. It was established in 1969 when the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) was formed, and is now run by JAXA. It is claimed to be one of the most beautiful rocket-launch complexes in the world due to the natural scenery and view of the Pacific Ocean.^[1]

The activities that take place at TNSC include assembly, testing, launching, and tracking satellites, as well as rocket engine firing tests.

Facilities[edit]

On-site main facilities include:^[1]

• 
  Yoshinobu Launch Complex is a launch site for large-size rockets like the H-IIA
  


• Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)


• Second Spacecraft Test and Assembly Building


• Takesaki Range Control Center

Those facilities are used for performing operations from assembling launch vehicles, maintenance, inspections, final checks of satellites, loading satellites onto launch vehicles, rocket launches, and tracking launch vehicles after liftoff. The TNSC plays a pivotal role for satellite launches among Japan’s space development activities.

Orbital launches of the H-IIA rockets take place from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex, lifting off from one of its two launch pads. The H-IIA first stage engine, the LE-7A, is test-fired at the Yoshinobu Firing Test Stand. Auxiliary buildings are in place for the assembly of new spacecraft and for radar and optical tracking of launched spacecraft.

The older Osaki Launch Complex was retired in 1992. It was used for the launch and development of N-I, N-II, and H-I space rockets.

The Space Science and Technology Museum is near TNSC. It offers an intricate view of rocket history and technology in Japan. Though most of the displays are in Japanese, there are English tour pamphlets available.

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  Full view of the Yoshinobu Launch Complex during roll out of the H-IIA rocket in February 2014
  

  
  

  
  


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  Space Science and Technology Museum
  

  
  

  
  


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  Tanegashima is the easternmost of the Osumi Islands, just south of the major island of Kyushu.
  

  
  

  
  

In fiction[edit]

In Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest, in the Asian Campaign, the Tanegashima Space Center is an important location, pivotal in the story to the United Federation of Asian Republics reaching Mars before the Americans or Europeans. The spaceport was completely destroyed in a nuclear bombing raid by Novaya Russia, but was rebuilt by the UFAR at the request of their ally, Japan.

Episode 2 of the Japanese animated film 5 Centimeters Per Second features a rocket launch from Tanegashima Space Center.

In the Robotics;Notes visual novel, Tanegashima Space Center is one of the major settings found in the game. It is also featured in the anime.

In Captain Earth, Tanegashima Space Center is now controlled by Globe and serves as one of their bases.

In the Japanese animated television series Aldnoah.Zero, Tanegashima is the crash landing site of some Martian technology.

The video games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, along with their remakes, feature the fictional Mossdeep Space Center, which is modeled on the Tanegashima Space Center.

In season 2, episode 19 of the Japanese animated television series Assassination Classroom, the students of class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Junior High School infiltrate a space center that is based on Tanegashima Space Center.

In the Japanese animated series Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, Tanegashima figures very prominently in the latter episodes.

Photos[edit]

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  A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (HMI) H-IIA rocket at TSC
  

  
  

  
  


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  H-IIB Launch Vehicle Flight 2, launching H-II Transfer Vehicle "Kounotori 2" (HTV2).
  

  
  

  
  

See also[edit]

• Smaller Uchinoura Space Center in nearby Kagoshima Prefecture


• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tanegashima Space Center.

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  Official website (in Japanese)
  


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  Official website (in English)
  


• Introduction


• http://www.astronautix.com/sites/tanshima.htm


• SLR Global Performance Report Card


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  8866 Tanegashima - asteroid


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  5641143022 Tanegashima Space Center on OpenStreetMap