TheUchinoura Space Center (内之浦宇宙空間観測所,Uchinoura Uchū Kūkan Kansokusho) is a space launch facility in theJapanese town ofKimotsuki,Kagoshima Prefecture.[1] Before the establishment of theJAXA space agency in 2003, it was simply called theKagoshima Space Center (鹿児島宇宙空間観測所) (KSC).[2] All of Japan's scientific satellites were launched from Uchinoura prior to theM-V launch vehicles being decommissioned in 2006. It continues to be used for suborbital launches, stratospheric balloons and has also been used for theEpsilon orbital launch vehicle.[3] Additionally, the center has antennas for communication with interplanetary space probes.
Established in February 1962, the Kagoshima Space Center (KSC) was constructed on the Pacific coast ofKagoshima Prefecture inUchinoura (now part ofKimotsuki) for the purpose of launching large rockets with probe payloads.[2] Prior to establishment of KSC, test launches of thePencil Rocket,Baby Rocket andKappa Rocket had been performed at the pioneering Akita rocket test facility (Michikawa) from the mid-1950s to the 1960s. However, progress in rocket development and larger launch vehicles required a site with more expansive down range than the narrowSea of Japan. After consideration of various candidate sites, Uchinoura in Kagoshima Prefecture, fronting the Pacific Ocean, was selected. At 31° 15' north latitude and 131° 05' east longitude, and situated in hilly terrain, the site at first glance does not appear to be exceptional; however, landscape engineering resulted in a launch facility which maximizes the unique terrain features of the site.
Subsequent to the so-calledBaby Rocket, launch vehicles developed by Japan have been given names from theGreek alphabet, i.e. Alpha, Beta, Kappa, Omega, Lambda, and Mu. Although some Greek letters have been skipped due to project termination, the progression to Mu has been one of larger and more sophisticated rockets.
Launch test efforts at KSC with regard to theKappa,Lambda and Lambda-4 rockets set the stage for small satellite missions.[4][5] At the same time, theMu program of large rockets was pursued.[6] After four launch failures, an engineering test satellite was successfully put into orbit aboard aLambda 4S-5 rocket. The satelliteOhsumi (named after a peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture) marked Japan's first successful satellite launch. Subsequent improvements in the Mu class rocket enabled scientific satellite launches at a rate of one per year. Development of the new generationM-V rocket resulted in successful launch of the scientific satellite MUSES-B (HALCA) in February 1997.
The first launch of theEpsilon rocket, of a small scientific satelliteSPRINT-A, was performed at 14:00 JST, 14 September 2013.
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31°15′07″N131°04′55″E / 31.25194°N 131.08194°E /31.25194; 131.08194
