US Space Force Payload Lifts Off on Japanese Satellite

US Space Force Payload Lifts Off on Japanese Satellite

A novel program to integrate U.S. and Japanese space capabilities was “completed” last week when a Japanese navigation satellite carrying a U.S. Space Force payload launched into orbit, the service said. The Aug. 10 launch took place aboard a Japanese H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on an island in southern Japan. The QZS-7 satellite will be operated by Japan and augment the GPS constellation in the Pacific region. Its U.S.-hosted paylo…

Space Force and Japan Complete GEO Watch Network as Orbital Rivalry Intensifies

The U.S. Space Force has completed a two-satellite surveillance network over the Indo-Pacific, closing out the first national security space partnership between the United States and Japan with the August 10 launch of a second American sensor aboard a Japanese navigation satellite. Japan’s H-3 rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center carrying the Quasi-Zenith Satellite 7 (QZS-7), which hosts a U.S. space domain awareness (SDA) payload bui…