Updated

Defense technology company Anduril says its first satellite, Anduril-216, can track adversary spacecraft maneuvering during orbital night using a long-wave infrared sensor. Ars Technica reported the claim on November 11, 2026. Anduril said it reported the success of the tech demo mission on Tuesday, after the satellite launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission in July, funded with Anduril's internal capital. The satellite flies about 590 km above Earth and spends about one-third of each orbit in darkness. Anduril says its infrared sensor detects heat signatures from spacecraft during eclipse periods, closing a gap in optical tracking when satellites are in Earth's shadow. Anduril's senior vice president of engineering Gokul Subramanian said the sensor has a large dynamic range and low solar exclusion. Apex Space built the spacecraft platform. Anduril released a single infrared image of the Moon from the sensor, and Subramanian said Anduril is not currently offering the system as a merchant supplier, focusing instead on selling space domain awareness data to the US military.