Today we are proud to announce that JACKAL-0004 and Mosaic have achieved all Mission X-3 test objectives. Jackal has been fully commissioned and is prepared for its next phase of mission.

Our third flight test to date, Mission X-3 demonstrated Jackal and Mosaic’s capabilities for end-to-end uncooperative rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO). Four years since founding, this milestone reflects what's possible when rapid development and test cycles are built around the pace that warfighters need to fight and win.  

Since spacecraft separation on May 3, 2026, our team has run an around-the-clock cycle to commission the vehicle and put it to work. We could not be more proud of this moment.

Achievements on Orbit

Mission X-3 is the culmination of a four-year product development process to design, build, test, and scale a clean-sheet capability for the United States Space Force in a new era of contested space.  

Mission X-3 achievements include:

• Successful launch, separation, solar panel deployment, and autonomous sun-pointing
• Multiple deployments of Jackal vehicle software updates, validating our software-defined-hardware philosophy and improving Jackal’s ability to execute mission tasks
• Multiple deployments of Mosaic ground control software updates, confirming our ability to respond quickly to the needs of the mission and Operations team, while validating that mission-critical software can be reliably delivered with high velocity
• Calibration and optimization of sensors, subsystems, and spacecraft performance
• Precision changes in attitude modes, from ground spotlighting to target tracking
• ~2,000 successful spacecraft contacts through Mosaic
• Successful open-loop and closed-loop tracking of resident space objects (RSOs) using Jackal’s optical payloads (NFOV, WFOV, and star trackers)
• Validation of our moving object detection and tracking (MODT) algorithms, confirming Jackal’s ability to execute closed-loop tracking of maneuvering targets during simultaneous vehicle maneuvers
• Successful imaging and tracking of RSOs at distances from 100km to 1,000km+
• Improved robustness to GPS solutions to of counter terrestrial and space-based interference
• Completion of propulsion commissioning and successful maneuvers to change Jackal’s trajectory
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These achievements demonstrate an increasingly mature and operational capability, validate the architecture behind both Jackal and Mosaic, and show the strength of the team who built them. 

Jackal and Mosaic are Built Different

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Jackal is a highly maneuverable, autonomous, multi-mission ESPA-Grande platform designed for medium to short-range space-to-space missions. Mosaic is the software that plans the missions, commands, and flies Jackal. 

Together as a single system, they replace the disparate collection of tools traditionally used for mission training, planning, live flight, and analysis. A mission that once took a room full of people can now be prepared and executed by a single operator, moving at machine speed instead of waiting on manual handoffs between disconnected systems. 

These platforms are designed exclusively for space superiority, not adapted from non-defense baselines.  Mission requirements define our engineering requirements from the start: every system is optimized for the realities of contested space.    

We built Jackal and Mosaic to be iterative. The spacecraft and software mature on the same curve as lessons from every flight are inserted back into the engineering and production pipeline. Building the spacecraft and vehicle and software in-house, side by side, is what makes this possible. Each mission we’ve flown has generated extensive data, which feeds directly into the next vehicle so our customers can field a complete capability: a purpose-built spacecraft, the software that operates it, and the production base to deliver it at rate.
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From Whiteboard to Orbit

We first flew JACKAL-0001 and JACKAL-0002 on Mission X-1 just 18 months after putting the first design on a whiteboard. Twelve months later, JACKAL-0003 was on orbit on Mission X-2, validating key design changes from Mission X-1, and confirming our architecture for flight software; guidance, navigation, and control (GNC); and basic autonomous flight operations.  

JACKAL-0004 incorporates dozens of design changes informed by the performance and lessons learned from JACKAL-0003, across avionics, communication and system redundancy, flight software, Mosaic ground software, mission assurance, and in-house production processes. Together, these improvements represent the collective lessons of every Jackal flown to date, turning flight heritage into a more capable, reliable, and operationally ready vehicle with each mission.

Ready for What’s Next

Mission X-3 validates not only the vehicle and software, but the philosophy behind them: build fast, fly often, learn relentlessly, and turn every mission into a more capable system than the one before it.

JACKAL-0004 is healthy on orbit, and we will continue to test, learn, and refine the onboard systems with over-the-air software updates, translating these learnings into engineering and design improvements for Jackal and Mosaic.  

Congratulations to the entire True Anomaly team for achieving this milestone. We are ready for what comes next.  

About True Anomaly

True Anomaly delivers decisive capabilities for space superiority. We build autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors. Our products enable the U.S. and its Allies to secure the space environment and counter threats from the ultimate high ground.  

Founded in 2022, True Anomaly is headquartered in Centennial, CO, with offices in Colorado Springs, CO, Washington, D.C., and Long Beach, CA. For more information, visit www.trueanomaly.space and follow us on LinkedIn.

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