Anduril and Impulse Space Plan to Run RPO in Geosynchronous Orbit Next Year

An upgraded Impulse Space Mira vehicle. Photo: Impulse Space

Next year, Anduril Industries and the Impulse Space startup plan to run a Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) rendezvous and proximity operations mission using Anduril’s mission data processor (MDP) and long-wave infrared imager aboard Impulse Space’s Mira space tug, Anduril said on Tuesday.

Such space tugs carry the “orbital transfer vehicle” designation.

“Once equipped with Anduril payloads and other third-party sensors, the Mira spacecraft will be integrated on Impulse’s Helios kick stage,” according to Anduril.

In June, the California-based Impulse Space said that it had raised $300 million in a Series C funding round to increase production and hire personnel for its in-space mobility spacecraft.

“As the space domain becomes increasingly contested and congested, the ability to protect and maneuver key assets is foundational to a strong in-space security posture. RPO missions are critical to strengthening U.S. space operations by maintaining the capacity to maneuver freely and safely on orbit,” Anduril said on Tuesday. “This is especially important as adversaries continue to invest in counterspace capabilities that pose a risk to strategic assets, attempting to deny our ability to safely operate in space.”

“While RPO missions are essential to strengthening U.S. space operations, those missions are inherently complex and, as a result, have historically been both expensive and required extended lead times – dynamics which are inconsistent with the mandate for a tactically responsive space posture,” the company said. “This internally-funded mission will combine Impulse’s highly-maneuverable spacecraft, Mira, with Anduril’s software-defined payloads, demonstrating how the partners can unlock faster, more cost-effective, and more accessible RPO missions in GEO.”

Anduril and Impulse Space announced their collaboration in October last year.

“Through a commercial launch, Helios will reach low Earth orbit (LEO) and will subsequently transfer across orbits, delivering the Mira spacecraft from LEO to GEO in less than a day,” Anduril said on Tuesday of next year’s RPO mission. “Powered by Impulse’s Deneb engine, Helios will provide a faster, more reliable, and significantly more cost-effective route to GEO than traditional methods that rely upon expensive direct-to-GEO insertion or slow electric-propulsion-powered orbit raises through geosynchronous transfer orbit. Once in GEO, Mira will separate from the Helios vehicle, which will be sustainably decommissioned to a graveyard orbit, and initiate its RPO demonstrations.”

“Communications constraints and harsh radiation typically present significant hurdles to highly precise, manually-operated missions in GEO,” Anduril said. “To bypass those challenges, Anduril will leverage its flagship MDP payload to enable highly-efficient edge processing of imagery data and autonomous mission management. The MDP payload will host both Anduril’s Lattice software platform and the mission’s RPO flight software, serving as the connective tissue that enables rapid data sharing across software suites, Anduril payloads, third-party sensors, and Impulse’s Mira spacecraft.”

Impulse Space launched the first Mira in November, 2023. Tom Mueller, who founded Impulse Space in 2021, was a founding member of SpaceX and designed the company’s Merlin engine for the Falcon rocket series. Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund has helped fund both Anduril and Impulse Space.

This story was first published by Defense Daily