True Anomaly is the first company ever to execute a space-to-space pursuit of an evading target as part of a tactically responsive space mission.

Denver, CO. July 29, 2026 - Hundreds of miles above Earth, JACKAL-0004 begins the hunt. Its mission: close in on, image, and characterize the target spacecraft, Puma. As Jackal closes in, Puma fires its thrusters to slip out of view and vanish into the dark.  

Jackal relays the data to our team on the ground, who rapidly replan and uplink a new trajectory. Jackal responds quickly, keeps chase, and closes back in. Puma maneuvers, but Jackal stays on its target and completes the mission. This is how an adversary would respond in a real-world defense mission, and it is happening now as part of VICTUS HAZE, an end-to-end demonstration of tactically responsive space.  

With all objectives complete, True Anomaly is the first company ever to execute a space-to-space pursuit of an evading target as part of a tactically responsive space mission.

What We Executed

Space Systems Command tasked us on July 14.  

Jackal’s crew produced a validated mission plan in under 30 minutes from tasking. Jackal executed ingress and a burn sequence over 23 minutes to close on Puma. When Puma maneuvered away during the approach, Jackal downlinked what it saw, and our team replanned, revalidated, and implemented a new mission plan in rapid succession. Jackal then executed fresh burns to reengage and image Puma. This mission—uncooperative rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO)—requires seamless integration of attitude control, sensing, and maneuvering. This is all orchestrated by our Mosaic ground system and backstopped by our operators’ expertise.

This mission demonstrated Jackal’s ability to seamlessly execute and transition between open- and closed-loop tracking based on the mission objectives and phases of execution. Our Multi-Object Detection and Tracking (MODT) algorithm performed flawlessly and proved that it can rapidly generate hyper-accurate target orbit state estimates from onboard measurements.

Closing the Feedback Loop

Space-to-space pursuit missions demand rapid planning, split-second coordination, and autonomy that maintains the initiative between commands. Machine and human must work closely to sense the target, decide what to do, act, and close that loop faster than the target can move to break it.  

It is a fundamental principle of tactics, expressed on orbit: whoever runs the loop faster controls the engagement. Route that loop through operators reacting manually on the ground over hours, and the target is long gone before the pursuit burn ever commands. Jackal was able to stay in the engagement with the support of automated open- and closed-loop tracking while human decisions were accelerated by the software rather than stretched by it. On orbit, making decisions in minutes rather than days is the difference between holding a target and losing it.

None of that is possible unless the spacecraft and the software were designed as a single system. You cannot bolt autonomy onto a vehicle built to be flown by manual calculations and disparate systems. Jackal and Mosaic are solutions architected to give operators the authority to decide and act. They were built together, by the same team of people who spent their careers as operators, for the missions our Guardians will actually fly. Integration isn't just a feature, it is the capability.

No White Cards

Our team spent enough time in uniform running exercises and real-world RPO to know what a live mission has that an exercise never will. VICTUS HAZE has no white cards. No scripted target behavior. No coordination with the other spacecraft. Puma wasn't playing a role. It was maneuvering to lose us, and we didn't know how in advance. That's the entire reason to do this on orbit instead of in a lab: the human decisions, the unexpected conditions, and the adversary's freedom to act are all real, and integration that hasn't held up against them hasn't been tested at all.

The Bigger Picture

Space is now a contested domain, in doctrine and in fact. Other nations have placed maneuvering spacecraft on orbit and rehearsed closing on assets that aren't theirs. The era of space as a sanctuary is over, and it is not coming back. In this reality, the ability to stay with an uncooperative object and characterize it while it actively works to evade is not one mission among many. It is the precondition for every other mission, because you cannot defend, service, or respond to what you cannot hold—it is exactly the mission the cost-exchange arithmetic says should be flown by a cost-effective software-defined spacecraft rather than a billion-dollar one.  

A single exquisite asset cannot be everywhere a contested domain demands and is a high-value target wherever it is. Tactical response in space means rapid timelines from need to capacity, at an order of magnitude lower cost, and enough autonomy on board to keep custody without the human component being a single point of failure.

With this phase of VICTUS HAZE complete, we will move into future operational sorties, each one designed to be harder than the last.  

We thank our partners at the United States Space Force, SpaceWERX, and Space Systems Command's Space Safari program office for their support throughout VICTUS HAZE. It is programs like this that will deliver the system our Guardians need to compete and win on orbit.  

Mosaic, Jackal, and its crew are ready for what comes next.

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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, X, and Instagram. 

Media Contact

For media inquiries, email press@trueanomaly.space.

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