Palmer Luckey’s buzzy defense firm Anduril is expanding into the space business

• Palmer Luckey’s defense tech startup Anduril is setting its sights on space.
• The seven-year-old company announced a new partnership with satellite hardware producer Apex.
• Anduril also said it plans to launch a mission into space in 2025.

Defense tech startup Anduril is fast building a reputation for disrupting the traditional defense industry with its futuristic flying and underwater autonomous devices.

Now, it’s aiming for the space market as well.

On Tuesday, Anduril announced it has partnered with the LA-based startup Apex, which produces satellite hardware.

It said it would use Apex’s satellite buses — the main body of a satellite that holds its payloads and technology — to deploy its own AI-powered systems for missions, including space situational awareness and missile warning and tracking.

Apex supplying its off-the-shelf hardware would enable Anduril to implement the “rapid development and delivery of space systems for the United States and partners,” the company said in a press release.

Anduril, which was co-founded by Oculus billionaire Palmer Luckey in 2017, also said it was planning to launch its own self-funded mission into space in 2025.

Anduril said the mission would “be the foundation for Anduril and Apex’s commitment to regularly deploying more mass to orbit. “

The partnership is just one arm of Anduril’s drive into space. Last week, the company landed a $25.3 million contract with the US Space Force, a branch of the military established four years ago to protect US interests in space.

Anduril has been contracted to expand the use of its artificial intelligence-powered Lattice software on Space Force’s Space Surveillance Network (SSN).

It would strengthen the network’s communications by providing “warfighters with real-time data exploitation, autonomous coordination of satellites, and resilient communication capabilities,” it said in a press release.

“Space is a contested warfighting domain and we recognize the importance of equipping spacecraft with advanced autonomy and cutting-edge payloads,” Gokul Subramanian, Anduril’s SVP of Space and Engineering, said in the announcement.

In the last year, Anduril has also secured key contracts to provide the US Air Force and both Australia’s Navy and Air Force with autonomous systems.

The company has pitched itself as the answer to the US military’s production and procurement woes, saying that future success in war will depend on the ability to rapidly manufacture and produce advanced weaponry at scale.

In August, after raising $1.5 billion in a series F funding round, the startup announced it would build a five million-square-foot factory that would “hyperscale” defense production and “rebuild the arsenal of democracy.”