Wikipedia

Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines, Inc. is an American space exploration company headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 2013 by Stephen Altemus, Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain,[3] to provide commercial and government exploration of the Moon. Today the company offers lunar surface access for transportation and payload delivery, data transmission services, and infrastructure-as-a-service.[not verified in body] Intuitive Machines holds three NASA contracts under the space agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines is one of three companies selected by NASA to advance Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) capabilities.[not verified in body]

Intuitive Machines, Inc.
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: LUNR
IndustryAerospace
Founded2013; 12 years ago (2013)
Founders
Headquarters
Houston, Texas
,
U.S.
Key people
ProductsLunar lander, Mission Control Center, Ground stations, additive manufacturing
Number of employees
400[2] (2024)
Websiteintuitivemachines.com

Intuitive Machines, LLC, went public in February 2023 after merging with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company. The company is incorporated in Delaware, and trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol, LUNR.[4]

Intuitive Machines' Lunar Payload Delivery Services (LPDS) program seeks to open commercial access to the Moon. NASA selected Intuitive Machines' LPDS program for four lunar missions, one of which landed the first American spacecraft to the surface of the Moon since the Apollo Program, and the first spacecraft to reach the lunar south pole region.[not verified in body]

History

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Intuitive Machines, Inc. was founded in 2013 by Stephen Altemus, Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain,[3] to provide commercial and government exploration of the Moon.[citation needed] It is incorporated in Delaware,[5] and headquartered in Houston, Texas.[6]

Intuitive Machines merged with the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (IPAX) to become a publicly held company, a transaction that was completed on February 14, 2023,[7][8][9] and its stock began trading on the Nasdaq that day.[10][11]

Company overview

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Intuitive Machines provides infrastructure as a service and is the catalyst for growing a lunar economy by using three pillars of commercialization:[12] Transportation and delivery of payloads (satellites, scientific instruments, cargo), including rideshare delivery and lunar surface access;[13] collection, processing, and interpretation of space-based data, through command, control, communications, reconnaissance, and prospecting;[14] and infrastructure on the lunar surface, including space assets to perform tasks and make decisions without human intervention.[15] These functions may include navigation, maintenance, scientific data collection, and system health monitoring.[citation needed]

Nova-C

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Main article: Intuitive Machines Nova-C
 
Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lunar lander

In November 2018, IM was selected by NASA as one of nine companies to bid on the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS).[16] Their lander, Nova-C, was NASA CLPS first mission of the program, focused on the exploration and use of natural resources of the Moon.[17]

On May 31, 2019, NASA announced it had awarded Intuitive Machines $77 million to build and launch their Nova-C Moon lander.[18][19][20][6]

On April 13, 2020, IM, under contract to carry NASA science instruments to the Moon on a robotic spacecraft,[21] said that its first lunar mission would target a deep, narrow valley named Vallis Schröteri.[citation needed] The mission objective was to place the Nova-C lander at crater Malapert A, near the south pole of the Moon.[22]

Missions

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IM-1

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Main article: IM-1

An Intuitive Machines contract with NASA[clarification needed] covered transportation to and operations on the Moon, for five NASA science instruments and several commercial payloads (including Columbia Sportswear[23]).[citation needed] The company launched its first mission based on the contract, with one of its Nova-C class landers spending seven days travelling to the Moon.[when?][citation needed] On February 22, 2024, Intuitive Machines landed Odysseus, its lander from the IM-1 spacecraft, on the Moon, the first U.S. landing in the more than 50 years since Apollo 17 touched down (in 1972).[citation needed]

The Odysseus lander fell on its side when landing, but its instruments remained partially functional (albeit with a reduced downlink capacity), so the mission was judged a success.[citation needed]

IM-2

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Main article: IM-2

IM-2 Athena was launched on February 27, 2025,[24] carrying Micro-Nova Gracie and other rovers and payloads.[citation needed] This mission is designed to validate water hunting infrastructure (e.g., via its drill), and essential mobility services like its Micro-Nova hopper; the hopper is designed to deploy off the lander and prospect by hopping[clarification needed] across the lunar surface.[citation needed] IM-2 Athena has completed its propulsion system's hot fire test, the most complex integrated test of the lander thus far.[citation needed]

The Athena lander achieved soft landing on March 6, 2025, but landed on its side, precluding recharging and deployment of payloads.[25] Operations concluded March 7, 2025.[26] On March 13, Intuitive Machines shared that, like on the IM-1 mission, the Athena's altimeter had failed during landing, leaving its onboard computer without an accurate altitude reading. As a result, the spacecraft struck a plateau, tipped over, and skidded across the lunar surface, rolling once or twice before settling inside a crater. The company's CEO compared it to a baseball player sliding into a base. The impact also kicked up regolith that coated the solar panels in dust, further degrading their performance.[27]

IM-3

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The third lunar delivery mission is undergoing integrated vibration testing with an anticipated mission window in early 2026.[28][29][independent source needed] This planned mission is designed to deploy the first of five data relay satellites under a Near Space Network Services contract.[29][independent source needed]

IM-4

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The fourth surface delivery mission intends to deliver the next two data relay satellites.[30][independent source needed] NASA awarded Intuitive Machines that $116.9 million mission contract in September.[when?][citation needed] Additional commercial payloads are anticipated to join that mission.[citation needed] This south pole mission includes six NASA payloads in addition to a European Space Agency led drill suite to search for water ice.[citation needed]

NSNS

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Intuitive Machines became the sole awardee for the Near Space Network Services (NSNS) contract in September 2024, which is a step toward data transmission for in-space communications and navigation.[31][independent source needed] The company intends to leverage its contracted surface delivery missions to deploy a constellation of lunar data relay satellites around the Moon.[citation needed] This is central to their strategy of supporting commercial ventures and the Artemis campaign's goal of sustained human lunar presence, as a part of the broader aim of commercializing the Moon.[citation needed] The NSNS contract introduces a pay-by-the-minute service model, focused on scalable data transmission services through a SaaS-type revenue model.[citation needed]

Joint venture with KBR

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In April 2023, Space Networks Solution,[32] a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and KBR, was awarded a five year contract worth up to $719 million to support NASA's Joint Polar Satellite System.[33][34]

SPAC merger

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In September 2022, Intuitive Machines announced that it would merge into special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (IPAX) and incorporate as a publicly held company. The transaction was approved by IPAX's shareholders on February 8, 2023, and the business combination was completed six days later.[8][9]

The stock of the newly named Intuitive Machines, Inc., began trading on the Nasdaq exchange on February 14, 2023.[10][11]

Project Morpheus heritage and evolution

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Main article: Project Morpheus

Project Morpheus was a NASA project that in 2010 began to develop a landing test vehicle similar to the IM Nova-C. Tim Crain had worked on the project and later became the CTO of Intuitive Machines. In an interview with NASA recorded in October 2023, Crain mentioned the possible development of a Nova-D lander.[35][36]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 25, 2024.
  2. ^ Coldewey, Devin (November 11, 2024). "Intuitive Machines CEO: 'We now have the platform for a lunar economy'". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  3. ^ a b Tracxn Staff (February 28, 2025). "Intuitive Machines Founders and Board of Directors". Tracxn.com. Bengaluru, India: Tracxn Technologies Limited. Retrieved March 2, 2025. Intuitive Machines has 3 founders. They are Stephen Altemus... Kam Ghaffarian... Tim Crain...
  4. ^ Nasdaq Staff (March 2, 2025). "Intuitive Machines, Inc. Class A Common Stock (LUNR)". NASDAQ.com. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  5. ^ "EDGAR Entity Landing Page". www.sec.gov. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Stuckey, Alex (October 20, 2019). "Houston Based Company Headed to the Moon in 2021". HoustonChronicle.com. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  7. ^ Intuitive Machines Staff (February 13, 2023). "Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. and Intuitive Machines, LLC Announce Closing of Business Combination; Intuitive Machines, Inc. to Trade on Nasdaq Under Ticker Symbols 'LUNR' and 'LUNRW'". BusinesWire.com (Press release). Retrieved March 2, 2025. For the same announcement at the IntuitiveMachines.com website, see this link, access date as above.
  8. ^ a b Sheetz, Michael (September 16, 2022). "Lunar tech company Intuitive Machines to go public via SPAC at close to $1 billion valuation". CNBC.
  9. ^ a b Ramkumar, Amrith. "Space Exploration Startup Intuitive Machines Reaches $1 Billion SPAC Merger Company that provides exploration infrastructure and data hopes to ride a boom in space missions". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  10. ^ a b Foust, Jeff (February 13, 2023). "Intuitive Machines completes SPAC merger". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on February 23, 2024. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Cooper, Naomi (February 14, 2023). "Intuitive Machines Completes SPAC Merger, Aims to Gain Foothold in Space Exploration Market". GovConWire. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  12. ^ Altemus, Steve; Vontur, Steve (August 13, 2024). "Second Quarter 2024 Investor Update" (company investor publication). IntuitiveMachines.com. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  13. ^ "Lunar Access Services". Intuitive Machines. Archived from the original on January 26, 2025. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  14. ^ "Lunar Data Services". Intuitive Machines. Archived from the original on January 26, 2025. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  15. ^ "Space Infrastructure". Intuitive Machines. Archived from the original on December 19, 2024. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  16. ^ Warner, Cheryl; Cole, Steve; Knotts, Jenny, eds. (November 29, 2018). "NASA Announces New Partnerships for Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Services" (Press release). NASA. 18-105. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2018.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  17. ^ "Intuitive Machines Headed To The Moon In 2021". Space Mining News. November 30, 2018. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019.
  18. ^ "NASA Selects First Commercial Moon Landing Services for Artemis Program - NASA". Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  19. ^ Brinkmann, Paul. "NASA chooses three companies to send landers to the moon". UPI. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  20. ^ Sriram, Akash. "Intuitive Machines slumps as moon lander likely has 10-20 hours of battery life left". Reuters. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  21. ^ "NASA Names Five NASA Payloads Nova-C Will Carry To The Moon". Intuitive Machines. January 23, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  22. ^ "Intuitive Machines 1 (Odysseus)". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  23. ^ "Moon Mission - Omni-Heat Infinity". Columbia Sportswear. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  24. ^ David, Leonard (September 12, 2024). "Ice-hunting Lunar Trailblazer and IM-2 nearly ready for January 2025 launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  25. ^ "Athena spacecraft lands on the Moon but on its side". BBC Newsround. March 7, 2025.
  26. ^ Georgina Rannard (March 7, 2025). "Intuitive Machines: spacecraft can't complete Moon mission". BBC News.
  27. ^ Berger, Eric (March 13, 2025). "Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was minus 280° F". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  28. ^ "NASA Selects Intuitive Machines for New Lunar Science Delivery - NASA". Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  29. ^ a b "THIRD QUARTER 2024 INVESTOR UPDATE November 14, 2024". investors.intuitivemachines.com.
  30. ^ "Intuitive Machines Strengthens Lunar Service Capabilities with $116.9 million NASA Lunar Contract Award". investors.intuitivemachines.com. August 29, 2024.
  31. ^ "NASA Awards Intuitive Machines Near Space Network Contract with a Maximum Potential Value of $4.82 Billion". investors.intuitivemachines.com. September 17, 2024.
  32. ^ Alamalhodaei, Aria (May 11, 2023). "Intuitive Machines prepares for first lunar mission, faces challenge to NASA contract win". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  33. ^ "Intuitive Machines Bolsters Orbital Services Business Line With $719 Million NASA Award". investors.intuitivemachines.com. April 18, 2023.
  34. ^ Carreau, Mark (April 20, 2023). "NASA Picks Intuitive Machines/KBR JV For Engineering Support Contract". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on February 15, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  35. ^ "IM-1, Houston We Have a Podcast". NASA. February 9, 2024. Archived from the original on February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  36. ^ Karlin, Susan. "Intuitive Machines (IM) cofounder and CTO Tim Crain on Project Morpheus, developing a prototype lander capable of autonomous flight and fueled by an emerging liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellant dubbed, methalox". Fast Company. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
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