Impulse Space
US commercial space company; named on Anduril's Golden Dome Space-Based Interceptor team.
Last refreshed: 10 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Impulse Space
Named as Golden Dome SBI partner gaining prime-adjacent positioning
Drones: Industry & Defence: Anduril names Sandia on Golden Dome team- What is Impulse Space and who founded it?
- Impulse Space is a US commercial space company founded in 2021 by Tom Mueller, SpaceX's former chief propulsion engineer. It builds orbital transfer vehicles for in-space last-mile delivery of payloads.
- What is Impulse Space's role in Golden Dome?
- Impulse Space is one of five partners named by Anduril for the Space-Based Interceptor programme in May 2026, inside the Space Force's $3.2 billion OTA pool. Its orbital transfer vehicle expertise provides propulsion and manoeuvring capability for the boost-phase interceptor.Source: Anduril Industries press release, 5 May 2026
- How does Impulse Space fit into the broader commercial space weapons market?
- Impulse Space's Golden Dome inclusion represents a pivot from launch-services adjacency into weapons-systems integration, a transition common among second-generation commercial space companies seeking stable government revenue to underpin commercially uncertain launch markets.Source: SpaceNews, May 2026
Background
Impulse Space is a US commercial space company founded in 2021 by Tom Mueller, SpaceX's former chief propulsion engineer. The company focuses on last-mile in-space transportation, building rocket-propelled orbital transfer vehicles that move payloads from standard launch orbits to precise final destinations.
In May 2026, Impulse Space was named as one of five partners on Anduril Industries' Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) team, inside the Space Force's $3.2 billion Other Transaction Authority pool awarded on 24 April . The inclusion places Impulse alongside Inversion Space, K2 Space, Voyager Technologies, and Sandia National Laboratories, giving the company prime-adjacent positioning on a flagship US missile-defence programme well before it has reached revenue scale as a launch-services company.
The Golden Dome role represents a pivot from launch-services adjacency into weapons-systems integration, a transition common among second-generation commercial space companies looking for stable government revenue to underpin commercially uncertain launch markets.