WASHINGTON — Japan has launched the second of two long‑planned U.S. Space Force orbital monitoring sensors aboard a Japanese satellite.
The dual missions constitute the first bilateral U.S.-Japan space initiative focused on national security, according to an Aug. 14 statement from the U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC). The first sensor was launched in February 2025.
Designed and built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Space Force sensors will monitor activity above the Indo‑Pacific region, the SSC release noted.
The Japanese Quasi‑Zenith Satellite‑7 (QZS‑7) lifted off successfully on an H‑3 launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center on Aug. 10, SSC reported.
Constructed by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, QZS‑7 is the seventh and final satellite in Japan’s Quasi‑Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) constellation, which operates in geosynchronous Earth orbit. Serving as Japan’s GPS counterpart, the constellation—managed by JAXA—delivers positioning, navigation, and timing data for civilian and military users.
In 2019, the Pentagon launched the bilateral initiative to host the U.S. sensors as payloads on the QZSS‑6 and QZSS‑7 satellites, an effort included in a broader set of agreements to enhance Japan‑U.S. cooperation on space situational awareness.
The U.S. Space Force first funded the program in fiscal year 2021, anticipating that QZS‑6 would launch in 2023 and QZS‑7 would follow the next year.
The two sensors will transmit their monitoring data to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN), a system of ground‑based radars and telescopes located on Earth and in space. The SSN is operated by the 18th Space Defense Squadron, headquartered at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
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