The Impulse Space second Mira vehicle, LEO Express-2. Photo: Impulse Space

Defense tech company Anduril Industries is partnering with Impulse Space to integrate the companies’ technologies for national space security missions.

Under a new agreement announced Friday, Impulse will provide the Mira orbital transfer vehicle to Anduril, which will integrate its own payloads and other partner systems onto the spacecraft to support classified mission requirements. In addition, Impulse Space will onboard Mira into Anduril’s software platform Lattice, which Impulse said will “allow a single operator to control, task, and maneuver multiple spacecraft simultaneously.”

The companies plan to offer systems for missions including rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), space control, and other space domain awareness (SDA) applications in high-energy orbits.

Mira is a spacecraft designed for payload hosting and constellation deployment. Impulse Space launched the first Mira vehicle in November of 2023 and it completed its mission in July. 

Anduril is a defense tech company that builds unmanned aerial systems, autonomous surveillance systems, and the Lattice command and control software. Impulse Space is led by Tom Mueller, who was a founding member of SpaceX and designed the Merlin engine. Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund is an investor in both companies and led or co-led their recent funding rounds.  

“By combining Impulse Space’s advancements in propulsion and on-demand maneuverability with Anduril’s Lattice software platform and a range of missionized, software-defined payloads, the partnership will bring agility and next-generation capability to some of the most critical missions that the DoD and IC face in the space domain,” commented Gokul Subramanian, Anduril’s senior vice president of Space and Engineering. 

This partnership comes after Anduril announced plans in September to expand into the space industry and develop fully integrated hardware and software systems for space missions. The Apex Aries SN1 satellite launched earlier this year is equipped with an Anduril payload. 

Impulse Space was just awarded a $34.5 million contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) for two tactically responsive space (TacRS) missions for space domain awareness and dynamic space operations, VICTUS SURGO and VICTUS SALO.