The Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) is one of Japan's space development facilities. It was established in 1969 when National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) was formed.

The activities that takes place at TNSC include assembly, testing, launching and tracking of satellites, but also rocket engine firing tests. It is Japan's largest space development center.

Facilities

There are several facilities at the TNSC. The two launch complexes are the Yoshinobu and the Osaki. Yoshinobu has two launch pads; one for lighter spacecrafts (up to 2 ton for geostationary orbit), and the other for heavier spacecrafts (2-4 ton). One of the firing test facilities is the Yoshinobu Firing Test Stand, where testing of the H-IIA first stage engine LE-7A takes place. There are also buildings for assembly of spacecrafts, and for radar and optical tracking of launched spacecrafts.

External links

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