Japan's H3 Rocket Launches Navigation Satellite | Tanegashima Space Center

Japan's H3 Rocket Launches Navigation Satellite | Tanegashima Space Center

🚀 A Japanese H3 rocket (H3-22S/H3 F9) launched the 🛰️“Michibiki” No. 7/Quasi-Zenith Satellite System 7 (QZS-7), a navigation satellite, from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, on August 10, 2026, at 19:23 UTC (August 11, at 04:23 JST).

The quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS), also known as Michibiki ("guidance"), is a regional navigation satellite system (RNSS) and a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) developed by the Japanese government to enhance the United States-operated global positioning system (GPS) in the Asia-Oceania regions with a focus on Japan. The goal of QZSS is to provide highly precise and stable positioning services in the Asia-Oceania region, compatible with GPS.

The H3 is a Japanese medium-lift launch vehicle developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). A hydrolox-fuelled rocket, it is the successor to the H-IIA and H-IIB launch vehicles. The H3 uses the LE-9 main engine, which was designed to be less expensive to produce as part of a broader effort to lower launch costs. The rocket has a modular design. Its first stage is powered by two or three LE-9 engines and can be fitted with zero, two, or four SRB-3 solid rocket boosters. The second stage uses the LE-5B-3 engine, an upgraded version of the engine family used since the H-I rocket.

In addition to launching satellites into Earth orbit, the H3 is used to launch Japan's HTV-X cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Video Credit: JAXA

Duration: 2 minutes, 40 seconds
Date: Aug. 10, 2026

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