Space tag: Jackal, Puma spacecraft to chase each other Victus Haze demo

Space firms Rocket Lab and True Anomaly will undertake several sets of maneuvers over the next six months for the Space Force's Victus Haze demonstration, a celestial game of tag where the two spacecraft will trade roles as chaser and chased. The mission aims to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), which involve close maneuvers around a target satellite for surveillance, assistance, or potential on-orbit combat. Victus Haze is the second of several Victus demos under the Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program. Unlike previous RPO demonstrations that were highly scripted, the on-orbit gameplay for Victus Haze is not scripted, and neither company knows exactly how the other's spacecraft will act. The Space Force has set objectives and mission boundaries but is not developing new capabilities; instead, it is facilitating a training ground for commercial companies to operationalize use cases. True Anomaly's Jackal spacecraft launched in May, and early successes in the cat-and-mouse game have been described in public releases.