The first step to fighting a war in space is knowing what’s happening tens of thousands of miles above the planet. Toward that end, defense tech darling Anduril is buying boutique data firm ExoAnalytic Solutions.
ExoAnalytic operates a network of 400 telescopes around the world, which it uses to track spacecraft in high orbits above the planet. The company’s engineers develop software that converts those observations into situational awareness tools for U.S. national security agencies watching adversary spacecraft and coordinating American assets on orbit.
“This is a company we’ve been working with closely for the last several years on a number of programs, and they are experts in space domain awareness and missile defense,” Anduril VP of engineering Gokul Subramanian told reporters. “We believe the [Department of Defense] deserves the best catalog of everything going on in space.”
The privately-held companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. Anduril is in the process of raising a $4 billion round from investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters reported last week.
ExoAnalytics will be directly integrated into Anduril, not run as a separate subsidiary, though Subramanian said it would continue to serve existing and future outside customers. Currently, Anduril has 120 employees focused on space defense, a number that will more than double with the addition of 130 ExoAnalytics employees.
The company’s technology could help Anduril win government contracts supporting Golden Dome, the missile defense system that the US Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to build. That system is expected to include thousands of satellites to track and target enemy missiles, and maintaining real-time awareness and coordination among them will be a heavy lift.
Anduril is planning to launch three spacecraft this year as internally-funded R&D projects that will draw on capabilities gained in the acquisition. Subramanian said ExoAnalytic’ …