Anduril Bolstering Space Portfolio by Buying Sensing Firm

In a move to expand its space portfolio, Anduril announced March 11 it has signed a definitive agreement to buy ExoAnalytic Solutions, a longtime provider of commercial and government space domain awareness and modeling and simulations capabilities. 

The acquisition, which has yet to be formally approved by federal regulators, will more than double Anduril’s current cadre of around 120 space-focused personnel. Anduril’s top space executive, Gokul Subramanian, told reporters the company expects the move to “supercharge everything we do in space, on Earth, and in missile defense.”

“As our business continues to grow, this acquisition made a lot of sense to us,” Subramanian said. “Both companies are built by engineers, for engineers with an engineering culture. We find that their capabilities are tremendously useful in our programs, and we expect this acquisition to enable us to tap into those capabilities more and more.”

ExoAnalytic, founded in 2008, operates a global network of more than 400 telescopes and is a key provider of space observation and analytics to the private sector and for government and defense customers. Its modeling and simulation capabilities support a range of classified and unclassified national security programs, and in recent years, the firm has won contracts to support the Space Force’s National Space Test and Training Complex and its Space Domain Awareness marketplace. 

“The acquisition would significantly enhance Anduril’s ability to develop and deploy solutions across space sensing, tracking, and countermeasures, building on existing collaborations between Anduril and Exo to significantly scale the impact that we will be able to provide for national security missions,” Anduril said in a press release. 

The firm will continue to invest in the ExoAnalytic’s telescope network, Subramnian said, retaining its robust catalog and its place as a key service provider to both the government and industry for SDA. He declined to provide any financial details related to the transaction.

“In terms of the commercial catalog capability, as it works today, we will maintain it exactly the same way, which is, it is a merchant supplier,” he said. “We give no advantages to anyone, including ourselves. There are going to be things that we’re going to want to do product development on in an exclusive way with them bringing their expertise into the Anduril product development. Those things may be exclusive, or we might turn around and be a merchant supplier of those things too, as we do with other parts of our business. It’s just too early to tell.”

Anduril has been growing its space footprint in recent years. In 2024, it announced it would partner with a space startup, Apex, to build payloads for the firm’s configurable satellite buses with a goal of becoming a player in the Defense Department and intelligence community’s move toward more proliferated constellations. Anduril has announced three self-funded satellites demonstrations, two of which are slated to launch this year. The company has also won contracts from the Space Force, including one to support its Space Surveillance Network.

Taking ownership of ExoAnalytic will enhance much of what Anduril does in space today, Subramanian said, including an upcoming optical payload demonstration. The firm’s goal is to leverage ExoAnalytic’s expertise to move imagery and data processing onboard Anduril’s satellites. 

“Typical space missions, the satellite is kind of just like a dumb truck where it’s collecting data, and it’s beaming all that data back to the ground and then all the data processing is done on the ground,” he said. “We expect Exo’s expertise to become part of our solution to enable us to do that onboard processing, discrimination, and tracking.”

Subramanian declined to discuss how ExoAnalytic’s modeling and simulation and space sensing systems could support a Golden Dome bid. He said Anduril plans to continue investing internal funds to build out its space capabilities and may consider more acquisitions as part of that push.

“We deeply believe in the space mission, and we’re going to continue investing in space in all forms, whether that’s looking for [mergers and acquisitions], continuing to have a very healthy IRAD budget every single year, and continuing to hire and grow our own team,” he said.