Defense firm Anduril Industries announced Tuesday it has selected startup Apex to provide satellite buses, the spacecraft’s trunk designed to house payloads, for its future military space missions.
The partnership is part of Anduril’s vision for an expanded defense space portfolio. The company — which has, to date, largely applied its software and autonomy expertise to other domains — announced in September it plans to build and launch its own spacecraft by late 2025.
Gokul Subramanian, the company’s senior vice president of space and engineering, told reporters Anduril’s focus will largely be on developing payloads and software that are tailored to meet national security requirements. Its deal with Apex is one of several the firm will reveal in the coming months.
“We believe that the US government needs more options to protect our interests in this domain, and that means bringing forward new players, innovative players like [Apex], into this domain,” he said. “This is the first partnership of many that we intend to announce.”
Apex flew its Aries satellite bus for the first time in March, hosting an Anduril-built mission data processor as part of the demonstration. Following the successful launch and initial operations, Anduril chose the firm as its first bus partner.
Subramanian said Apex’s ability to rapidly build satellite buses will help Anduril respond to national security requirements for large constellations of satellites that can track activities in space, process data and send that to users on the ground.
“Our focus is on missionized systems, software, unique payloads — all of those things. That’s where we’re putting our investment,” Subramanian said. “We’re partnering with bus providers like Apex to deliver the bus as part of that system.”
Both Anduril and Apex plan to compete for military missions, including the Space Development Agency’s low Earth orbit missile tracking and data transport constellations.
Apex CEO Ian Cinnamon said SDA’s mission to deliver satellites on faster timelines and at lower price points is “directly in line” with Apex’s focus on rapid bus production.
“We build buses ahead of time, we hold them on inventory and when the payloads are ready, we’re able to integrate them . . . in a matter of weeks instead of years,” he said.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.
