Photo of the H-3 launch vehicle, dark background with a launch trajectory ending in a bright point of light.

U.S. Space Force and Japan successfully launch U.S. sovereign space domain awareness payload aboard QZS-7 satellite

The second launch was successfully completed in first-ever bilateral U.S. Japan cooperative space effort. Allied partnership enables better management and protection of space assets, ensuring a more secure and reliable space environment.
August 18, 2026
Space Systems Command

A U.S. space domain awareness payload hosted on Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite 7 (QZS-7) successfully launched on a Japanese H-3 launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on August 10, 2026. This is the final of the two launches that are part of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System-Hosted Payload (QZSS-HP) program, the first bilateral U.S. Japan cooperative space effort focused on national security.

The U.S. payload will be operated by Combat Forces Command’s Mission Delta 2, which conducts space domain awareness operations to identify, characterize, and exploit opportunities and mitigate vulnerabilities in the national security space terrain on behalf of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and U.S. Space Command. The payload will deliver near real time data to the Space Surveillance Network bolstering the U.S. Department of War understanding of the geosynchronous orbit regime above the Indo-Pacific region.

The QZSS-HP program encompasses the interoperability, launch, and operations of two U.S. payloads hosted on Japanese satellites. This U.S.-Japan space partnership builds upon trust while increasing space security and upholding international space law and shared values. In preparation for launch, the USSF and MIT Lincoln Laboratory teams have worked side-by-side with the National Space Policy Secretariat and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation teams in Japan over the past two years to integrate and test the hosted payload alongside its Japanese QZS-7 host.