X-3 challenged both the Jackal spacecraft and its mission software, Mosaic, for end-to-end uncooperative rendezvous and proximity operations. The campaign followed True Anomaly’s announcement of a $650M Series D in April, and it arrives as the company prepares to deliver across a range of Space Force contracts over the coming months.
The test included successful open-loop and closed-loop tracking of resident space objects, and validation of the ability to execute closed-loop tracking of maneuvering targets during simultaneous vehicle maneuvers. The campaign also completed propulsion commissioning and trajectory-changing maneuvers, and demonstrated improved GPS-solution robustness to counter interference.
“Mission X-3 really demonstrated the capabilities that the Space Force needs across a variety of programs,” True Anomaly CEO and cofounder Even Rogers said. “When we designed Jackal and Mosaic, we designed it explicitly for orbital-warfare and space-domain-awareness missions. Now we’ve demonstrated several of the conops and key capabilities that are core to those missions and those future programs.”
Rogers credited the campaign’s success to the working relationship built between the company’s teams. “We’ve established this incredible operating rhythm, trust, and cohesion between the flight-operations team and the engineering team, over the last month and a half,” he said. “That has created a feedback loop into engineering and product development, that also sets us up for future missions.” The company plans to continue demonstrations with Jackal, with eventual aims to test the vehicle in GEO and cislunar orbits.
Rogers framed the milestone as a pivot toward delivery. “It’s really about product delivery and scale,” he said. “We have major contract deliveries over the next 12 to 18 months that are major inflection points for the business, and demonstrate our ability to be a multi-product company, delivering warfighting capabilities that work in the environment operationally. That’s the thing that we’re most focused on.” The company’s mission focuses exclusively on delivering capabilities for space superiority.
In the coming months, True Anomaly will need to deliver across several Space Force programs. Under VICTUS HAZE, Jackal will test rendezvous and proximity operations tactics alongside Rocket Lab as part of the Tactically Responsive Space mission. The company is also one of several firms delivering next-generation geosynchronous surveillance and reconnaissance under Andromeda, and one of 12 tapped to build the space-based interceptor component of the Golden Dome missile-defense system.
True Anomaly plans to continue Jackal demonstrations, with stated aims to test the vehicle in GEO and cislunar orbits. The company faces major contract deliveries across VICTUS HAZE, Andromeda, and Golden Dome over the next 12 to 18 months, which Rogers identified as the key inflection points ahead.