Anduril Doubles Space Unit With ExoAnalytic Acquisition — And Three Missions Launching This Year
Anduril Industries is acquiring ExoAnalytic Solutions, a space surveillance company that operates the world's largest commercial telescope network, to double its space sector workforce and strengthen its position for the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense program. The acquisition, announced ...
Anduril Industries is acquiring ExoAnalytic Solutions, a space surveillance company that operates the world's largest commercial telescope network, to double its space sector workforce and strengthen its position for the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense program.
The acquisition, announced March 11, will bring 130 ExoAnalytic employees into Anduril's space division, which currently has about 120 workers. Terms were not disclosed. Anduril is also raising a $4 billion funding round from Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
ExoAnalytic, founded in 2008 by three career physicists including CEO Doug Hendrix, operates more than 400 telescopes worldwide that track satellites and space debris in high orbits. The company has collected billions of observations and built what Gokul Subramanian, Anduril's vice president of engineering, called "the best catalog" for tracking objects in geostationary orbit.
The company developed from missile defense sensor technology adapted for tracking spacecraft, after U.S. military officials called for better ways to understand what was happening in space. It received $26 million in SBIR grants from the federal government since 2010.
"If you can't see in space, you can't fight in space," Subramanian said. "We are focused on protecting space, assuring access to space, ensuring custody of space."
The acquisition gives Anduril capabilities in three areas it is pursuing: space domain awareness, battle management, and fire control. The company is also planning three internally funded space missions launching this year.
Electronimo, developed with Apex Space, will fly long-wave infrared and electro-optical space surveillance sensors in low-Earth orbit. Unlike most satellites that beam raw data to ground for processing, Electronimo will process observations onboard to enable immediate detection of other objects in space.
Anduril is also partnering with Impulse Space on a rendezvous and proximity operations demonstration in geosynchronous orbit, a capability foundational for satellite servicing and inspection. A third mission with Argo Space combines Anduril's surveillance sensor and edge computing with Argo's highly maneuverable spacecraft.
The ExoAnalytic technology has applications in missile defense, which could help Anduril win contracts for the Golden Dome program expected to include thousands of satellites to track and target enemy missiles.
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