[War & Business] Tanegashima Space Center

On the 29th of last month, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' H2A rocket carrying Japan's optical data relay satellite was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Tanegashima, Japan - Photo by Kyodo News and Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As the final month of 2020 approached, Japan succeeded in launching an optical data relay satellite that transmits satellite information seven times faster than before using lasers, drawing global attention to the Tanegashima Space Center where the satellite was launched. Although it had been overshadowed by the spectacular achievements of the U.S. SpaceX and China's space ambitions, Japan's space industry has demonstrated both domestically and internationally that it has steadily developed for over 50 years centered around the Tanegashima Space Center.

Tanegashima, an island whose name means "seed" (種子) in Chinese characters, has historically been a seed fund for Japan's military industry. Originally, it was just a small island passed through on the way from Kagoshima in Kyushu to Okinawa, but in 1543, a Portuguese merchant ship bound for Macau drifted and landed here, marking the island as an important place that changed the course of Japanese history.

The Tanegashima clan, which ruled the island at the time, purchased two matchlock guns from these Portuguese merchants and, after five years of effort, succeeded in domesticating and mass-producing them. The Japanese matchlock guns, later called "Tanegashima teppo," ended Japan's over 150-year-long Warring States period and became the driving force behind Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of the continent, which led to the Imjin War.

After Japan's defeat in World War II, the Japanese government established the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 1969, modeled after NASA, and built the Tanegashima Space Center. Although it would have been more advantageous to build the space center further south in Okinawa in terms of latitude, it was chosen because military satellites and rockets could not be openly developed in Okinawa, where U.S. military bases?former enemies during World War II?were located.

The development of rocket technology here was overseen by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which had produced the Zero fighter plane that terrified the U.S. military at Pearl Harbor during World War II. The H2A rocket developed by Mitsubishi is a large rocket that has succeeded in 46 consecutive launches since 2005, with a launch success rate of 98%. It is regarded as having the highest launch success rate compared to large rockets from the U.S., Russia, and China. This was thanks to persistent technological development pursued consistently for 50 years, even as other countries' space development projects changed drastically with each government change.

In 2012, South Korea's Arirang 3 satellite was also launched from Tanegashima aboard the H2A rocket, clearly bearing the Mitsubishi logo. Coincidentally, that year marked the 420th anniversary of the Imjin War, and Mitsubishi fiercely competed for the contract to launch the Arirang 3 satellite by offering a price 30% cheaper than other countries. It has been nearly 10 years since that humiliating experience, but Korea's own launch vehicle is still in its infancy, wavering between liquid and solid fuel technologies.