Uchinoura Mu

M Center Kagoshima M

Mission Profile

Uchinoura Space Center's Mu launch facility (M Center) on the Osumi Peninsula of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan is JAXA's dedicated pad for the solid-propellant Mu and Epsilon launch vehicle families. The facility was established in the 1960s for the University of Tokyo's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and has supported all of Japan's small solid-fuel orbital launches including Japan's first satellite Osumi in 1970, Hayabusa's launch on an M-V in 2003, and multiple Epsilon launches beginning in 2013. The remote coastal location on Japan's southernmost main island minimizes the safety exclusion zone required for solid rocket operations and provides a suitable downrange ocean corridor for the trajectories required by ISAS science missions.