Anduril acquires space surveillance company ExoAnalytic Solutions.

The first step in waging war in space is knowing what’s happening tens of thousands of miles above Earth. To that end, defense tech enthusiast Anduril is acquiring boutique data company ExoAnalytic Solutions.

ExoAnalytic operates a network of 400 telescopes around the world and uses them to track spacecraft in high orbits above the planet. The company’s engineers develop software that translates these observations into situational awareness tools for U.S. national security agencies that monitor enemy spacecraft and coordinate U.S. assets in orbit.

“This is a company we have been working closely with on several programs over the past few years, and we are experts in space domain awareness and missile defense,” Anduril, Vice President of Engineering Gokul Subramanian, told reporters. “We believe (the Department of Defense) deserves the best catalog of everything happening in space.”

The private companies did not disclose terms of the deal. Anduril is in the process of raising $4 billion in funding from investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters reported last week.

ExoAnalytics will not operate as a separate subsidiary and will be integrated directly into Anduril, but Subramanian said it will continue to serve existing and future external customers. Anduril currently has 120 employees focused on space defense, and the addition of 130 ExoAnalytics employees will more than double that number.

The company’s technology could help Anduril win government contracts to support Golden Dome, the missile defense system that the U.S. Congress spent billions of dollars to build. The system is expected to include thousands of satellites to track and target enemy missiles, and maintaining real-time awareness and coordination between them will be a huge task.

Anduril plans to launch three spacecraft this year with internally funded R&D projects that will leverage capabilities gained through the acquisition. Subramanian said ExoAnalytic’s experience processing spatial data will be used on an infrared tracking satellite scheduled to launch this year in collaboration with Apex Space. The space tracking data will be used to execute two missions in high orbit expected to launch this year in collaboration with Impulse Space and Argo Space, respectively.

There is another potential angle to the acquisition. The machine vision algorithms ExoAnalytic developed to detect satellites in orbit are also useful for interceptors seeking to track and engage incoming threats. Anduril received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to begin development of a space-based missile interceptor in late 2025.

ExoAnalytic was founded in 2008 to use missile defense sensor technology to track spacecraft in orbit after U.S. military officials called for new and better ways to understand what’s happening in space, CEO Doug Hendrix said in a 2024 interview. The company’s early growth was funded through federal grants and contracts, including $26 million in SBIR grants since 2010.

U.S. Space Force officials have expressed deep concern about Chinese and Russian spacecraft flying close to American and European satellites. These spacecraft could potentially disrupt communications or damage satellites with electronic or other weapons.

“Two years ago, (the U.S. commander in the Pacific) told me that the fleet could not leave port unless the space layer was secured,” Subramanian said. “We’ve been on a mission for the last few years to find ways to be part of that solution.”