The Usuda Deep Space Center was established in Usuda Town, Nagano Prefecture (Now Saku City from Apr. 2005), in 1984, as an affiliated facility of the former Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS).
The Center conducts command operations and receives data from deep space probes which observe planets and comets. The remote location of the Center was chosen carefully to reduce noise from towns, allowing for the reception of faint and subtle signals from space.
The main facility is a large parabolic antenna (64m-dia., 1980t.). X-band communications (8 GHz) are used for with deep space probes, while S-band (2 GHz) and X-band (for receiving only) are used for other probes. In addition to the Center, only NASA (U.S.A.), ESA (Europe), and IKI (Russia) own parabolic mirrors of this size.