Defense technology firm Anduril Industries announced the successful demonstration of a new satellite-based sensor engineered to monitor other spacecraft that may conceal their movements within Earth’s shadow.
Technology Demonstration in Low-Earth Orbit
Financed entirely through internal capital, the company’s oven-sized satellite launched aboard a SpaceX rideshare mission in July carrying a suite of technology demonstration payloads. These payloads included an edge-compute processor, an adaptable power-management system for diverse mission requirements, and a long-wave infrared space sensor designed to detect orbiting objects.
Anduril shared the success of the technology demonstration mission on Tuesday. Operating at an altitude of approximately 590 kilometers (366 miles) above Earth, the spacecraft—designated Anduril-216—spends roughly one-third of every orbit in darkness, allowing its infrared imager to perform effectively during night passes.
“This is a unique sensor that allows us to take imagery in long-wave [infrared],” said Gokul Subramanian, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering, as reported by Ars Technica. “What’s unique about that is it’s got a huge dynamic range. It has very low solar exclusion, so we’re blocked by the Sun very rarely, and we can see things in full dark.”
Addressing Blind Spots in Space Tracking
The United States military and an expanding sector of commercial providers utilize ground- and space-based networks of radars and optical sensors to monitor satellite traffic. Although Anduril purchased commercial satellite-tracking firm ExoAnalytic Solutions earlier in the year, optical tracking presents a notable gap when spacecraft travel through Earth’s shadow, potentially allowing space traffic monitors to lose sight of a vehicle executing a maneuver during orbital night.
The US Space Force monitors satellites primarily to detect threatening movements by adversaries and to issue collision avoidance alerts to satellite operators globally. Because ground sensors cannot be placed on sovereign adversary territories and visible sensors struggle during eclipse periods when satellites lack solar illumination, the new sensor aims to resolve this visibility challenge, according to Adam Thurn, Anduril’s vice president and general manager of orbital systems.
“Right now, we don’t have ground sensors in our adversaries’ sovereign lands, and then in the eclipse period where we are relying heavily on visible sensors, the satellites that are not illuminated by the Sun, we can’t see those,” Thurn told Ars Technica. “With the long-wave infrared space sensor, we’re looking to close that gap.”
