Anduril snaps up space surveillance firm ExoAnalytic Solutions

The archetypal measurement to warring a warfare successful abstraction is knowing what’s happening tens of thousands of miles supra the planet. Toward that end, defence tech darling Anduril is buying boutique information steadfast ExoAnalytic Solutions.

ExoAnalytic operates a web of 400 telescopes astir the world, which it uses to way spacecraft successful precocious orbits supra the planet. The company’s engineers make bundle that converts those observations into situational consciousness tools for U.S. nationalist information agencies watching adversary spacecraft and coordinating American assets connected orbit.

“This is simply a institution we’ve been moving with intimately for the past respective years connected a fig of programs, and they are experts successful abstraction domain consciousness and rocket defense,” Anduril VP of engineering Gokul Subramanian told reporters. “We judge the [Department of Defense] deserves the champion catalog of everything going connected successful space.”

The privately-held companies did not disclose the presumption of the deal. Anduril is successful the process of raising a $4 cardinal circular from investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters reported past week.

ExoAnalytics volition beryllium straight integrated into Anduril, not tally arsenic a abstracted subsidiary, though Subramanian said it would proceed to service existing and aboriginal extracurricular customers. Currently, Anduril has 120 employees focused connected abstraction defense, a fig that volition much than treble with the summation of 130 ExoAnalytics employees.

The company’s exertion could assistance Anduril triumph authorities contracts supporting Golden Dome, the rocket defence strategy that the US Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to build. That strategy is expected to see thousands of satellites to way and people force missiles, and maintaining real-time consciousness and coordination among them volition beryllium a dense lift.

Anduril is readying to motorboat 3 spacecraft this twelvemonth arsenic internally-funded R&D projects that volition gully connected capabilities gained successful the acquisition. Subramanian said ExoAnalytic’s acquisition processing abstraction information would beryllium utilized successful an infrared tracking outer it plans to motorboat this twelvemonth successful concern with Apex Space. The abstraction tracking information volition beryllium utilized to execute 2 missions successful precocious orbit expected to motorboat this twelvemonth successful partnerships with Impulse Space and Argo Space, respectively.

There’s different imaginable space to the acquisition — the instrumentality imaginativeness algorithms ExoAnalytic has developed to spot satellites successful orbit are besides utile for interceptors trying to way and prosecute with incoming threats. Anduril received a declaration from the Pentagon successful precocious 2025 to statesman processing a space-based rocket interceptor.

ExoAnalytic was founded successful 2008 to accommodate rocket defence sensor exertion to way spacecraft successful orbit aft U.S. subject officials called for caller and amended ways to recognize what was happening successful space, CEO Doug Hendrix said successful a 2024 interview. The company’s aboriginal maturation was funded by grants and contracts from the national government, including $26 cardinal successful SBIR grants since 2010.

U.S. Space Force officials person expressed heavy interest astir Chinese and Russian spacecraft that alert intimately alongside American and European satellites, wherever they could perchance intercept communications oregon harm the outer with physics oregon different weapons.

“Two years ago, an [U.S. commandant successful the Pacific told] maine that the fleet cannot permission the larboard without the abstraction furniture being secured,” Subramanian said. “We’ve been connected a ngo for the past respective years to fig retired however to beryllium a portion of that solution.”