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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 (TNSC) 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<\/strong>, the first bilateral U.S. Japan cooperative space effort focused on national security.<\/p>\n The U.S. payload will be operated by Combat Forces Command\u2019s Mission Delta 2 (MD2), 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<\/strong> and U.S. Space Command<\/strong>. The payload will deliver near real time data to the Space Surveillance Network bolstering the U.S. Department of War (DoW) understanding of the Geosynchronous Orbit regime above the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n \u201cThe successful launch of QZS-7 is a powerful testament to the enduring strength and rapid modernization of the U.S.-Japan alliance. By continuing to merge our capabilities in space modernization and satellite communications, we are maintaining security in a contested space domain and fortifying our shared deterrence capabilities across the Indo-Pacific region,\u201d said USSF Col. Bryon McClain<\/strong>, Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for Space Combat Power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cQZSS-HP is a key contributor to help us meet the threat of peer adversaries in space and build towards resilient capabilities to detect, understand, and maintain custody of objects in deep space,\u201d said USSF Col. Gina Peterson, deputy commander of Mission Delta 2 \u2013 Space Domain Awareness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 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 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL)<\/strong> teams have worked side-by-side with the National Space Policy Secretariat (NSPS) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation<\/strong> (MELCO) teams in Japan over the past two years to integrate and test the hosted payload alongside its Japanese QZS-7 host.<\/p>\n Both U.S. payloads for this mission were designed and built by MIT LL in Lexington, MA. The Japanese host Quasi-Zenith Satellites were designed and built by MELCO in Kamakura, Japan, to augment the U.S. global positioning system (GPS) capabilities in the region. The U.S. payload, referred to as the QZSS-HP, utilises the Multi-Mission Space Operations Center\/Enterprise Command and Control \u2013 Schriever enclave located in Colorado. The strategic partnership between the USSF and Japan’s NSPS originated through a December 2020 international agreement to jointly execute the QZSS-HP program.<\/p>\n “The U.S.-Japan Alliance is one of our greatest strategic advantages in the Pacific,” said USSF Brig. Gen. <\/strong>Brian Denaro<\/strong>, commander, U.S. Space Forces Pacific<\/strong>. “The QZSS-Hosted Payload program demonstrates how we enhance security across the Pacific. From design through launch, this milestone reflects years of collaboration that strengthen our resilience, enhance interoperability, and reinforce the alliance’s ability to deliver operational advantage across our combined and joint forces. Partnerships like this don’t simply produce new capabilities, they build the trust, integration and readiness that strengthen deterrence, reinforce our collective security, and preserve freedom of action in, from and to space.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 (TNSC) 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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[44,26,25,20],"class_list":["post-84650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-gnss","tag-ground","tag-launch","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84656,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84650\/revisions\/84656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Also Read: What is Space Domain Awareness?<\/h4>\n
Also Read: How GNSS for Space is Enhancing Precision Location Determination for Satellites?<\/h4>\n