The U.S. military wants to know what China and Russia launch into orbit. However, conventional approaches result in significant surveillance gaps. Two private companies just showed they can fill those gaps in record time.
True Anomaly and Rocket Lab pulled off a high-speed space inspection for the U.S. Space Force. One spacecraft located and snapped a picture of another just hours after it reached space. Both vehicles were hurtling through orbit at roughly 17,500 miles per hour relative to Earth, making the precision rendezvous exceptionally challenging. The successful inspection demonstrates that commercial companies can provide rapid, on-demand reconnaissance capabilities the military currently lacks.
Rocket Lab received notice to launch its Puma spacecraft.
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Once Puma reached orbit, True Anomaly's Jackal spacecraft went to work. It spotted and identified the target from 2,000 kilometers away.
Even Rogers, CEO of True Anomaly and a former U.S. military space official, called it "probably the most complex rendezvous and proximity operation between two spacecraft in modern history."
The U.S. Space Force needs to inspect unknown spacecraft from rival nations like China and Russia. Currently, the military has gaps in what it can learn about foreign space capabilities. Rogers said: "China and Russia launch capabilities to space on a regular basis, and part of the Space Force's job is to understand what those capabilities are. Right now we have gaps in our collection capability."
Private companies can act faster and more flexibly than traditional military-led missions. True Anomaly has raised just over $1 billion in total funding, including a $650 million round completed in March. The funding supports what Eclipse Ventures partner and True Anomaly board member Seth Winterroth describes as the company's core strength: "It's not one spacecraft architecture or one piece of software or a certain set of payloads - it's a deep, deep understanding of what tactics and doctrine look like in this domain."
Rogers summed up the competitive edge: "Flight heritage is everything, and demonstrated capability is what speaks the loudest with these opportunities."
True Anomaly and Rocket Lab will run more complex exercises in the coming weeks. The next phase could involve the Rocket Lab spacecraft trying to evade True Anomaly's vehicle and conducting its own inspection moves. Additionally, True Anomaly intends to compete for contracts within the Space Force's $6.2 billion Andromeda initiative, a program designed to procure maneuverable reconnaissance capabilities from commercial companies.
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