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

A Japanese H-3 launch vehicle carrying Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite 7, which hosts a U.S. Space Domain Awareness payload, launches from the Tanegashima Space Center in Tanegashima, Japan, Aug. 10, 2026. The launch marked the successful completion of the second and final mission of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System-Hosted Payload program, a bilateral national security space partnership between the United States and Japan. The Space Force's Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space Combat Power managed the acquisition and program integration of the hosted payload, which was designed and built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL) and tested alongside its Japanese host satellite over a two-year period. Combat Forces Command’s Mission Delta 2 was designated to operate the payload to deliver near-real-time space surveillance data, bolstering the U.S. Department of War’s understanding of the geosynchronous orbit regime above the Indo-Pacific region. (Courtesy Photo by MIT/LL)