Two spacecraft from commercial companies carried out a complex rendezvous maneuver in orbit under an order from the U.S. Space Force. One of them located the target, approached it closely, and captured it from different angles. The operation demonstrated how quickly the private sector can deploy surveillance of rival satellites.
Space Espionage
States regularly direct satellites toward rival spacecraft in order to determine their capabilities. The U.S. Space Force is increasingly leaning toward the view that expanding this kind of intelligence gathering is better entrusted to the private sector.
Last week, Rocket Lab and True Anomaly conducted an exercise called Victus Haze, TechCrunch reports. According to True Anomaly CEO Even Rogers, a veteran of U.S. military space programs, Russia and China are constantly placing new systems into orbit, while gaps remain in the ability to monitor them.
Launch in Less Than a Day
Rocket Lab received notification and placed the Puma spacecraft into orbit in just 16 hours and 42 minutes. Usually, preparing a rocket for flight takes months, so such a rapid response is unusual for the industry.
True Anomaly’s Jackal interceptor was already in space. Operators did not know in advance exactly where Puma would appear, so the target was located and identified using onboard sensors at a distance of 2,000 kilometers.
The Approach Distance Is Classified
Both spacecraft were moving at nearly 28,000 kilometers per hour when Jackal began its maneuver. The exact distance has not been disclosed, but the interceptor flew around the target and photographed different parts of its body.
After completing the imaging, Jackal returned to its initial position in space. According to Even Rogers, excluding NASA and Space Force crewed missions, this was likely the most complex rendezvous and proximity operation in recent history.
Previous private demonstrations of this type took much longer. Northrop Grumman’s servicing satellites and Astroscale’s orbital-debris inspection system required weeks for similar approaches, while the Puma and Jackal encounter took only hours.
Slower Tactics by Rivals
By comparison, similar Russian operations stretch over years. The Luch satellite, also known as Olymp, performed numerous orbital maneuvers after its launch in 2014 and gradually approached Intelsat and Eutelsat spacecraft to within several dozen kilometers.
The teams controlling the targets had months to track the movements and prepare for a possible approach. When a rocket launch and interception fit into less than a day, opponents have far less time to react.
New Exercises and Major Orders
In the coming weeks, both participants will practice more complex scenarios. These will include, in particular, Puma evading Jackal and conducting its own inspection maneuvers in response.
The startup True Anomaly was founded in 2022 by former officer Even Rogers together with a group of military-space specialists. Since then, the team has raised more than one billion dollars in investment, including a $650 million round in March of this year.
The company is now competing for a number of contracts under the U.S. Space Force’s $6.2 billion Andromeda program, which is focused on maneuverable intelligence missions. “Having flight experience means everything, and demonstrated capability matters most when it comes to these kinds of capabilities,” Even Rogers noted.
