Shares of the Texas-based space exploration company Intuitive Machines Inc (NASDAQ: LUNR) shot up by nearly 60 per cent on Tuesday following news of a major new contract with NASA valued at up to US$4.8 billion.
The five-year deal will see Intuitive deploy a constellation of lunar satellites. These will provide navigation and communications services needed by NASA for its Artemis program. NASA’s program was created to establish a lunar base and other infrastructure on the Moon.
“This contract marks an inflection point in Intuitive Machines’ leadership in space communications and navigation,” Intuitive chief executive Steve Altemus said in a statement.
The significance of this contract cannot be overstated. Intuitive has been completing contract work for NASA worth hundreds of millions since 2019, but this deal dwarfs all of the previous ones.
“We see the win today as significant validation towards Intuitive’s outlook and its ability to continue to win additional contracts,” Cantor Fitzgerald’s senior analyst Andres Sheppard said. He has given Intuitive a US$10 share target price, over two dollars more than they are currently worth on the Nasdaq. Intuitive stock has shot up by over 80 per cent within the past year due to recent developments like this.
At the end of August, the company was awarded another contract by NASA to deliver state-of-the-art equipment to the Moon for scientific research. These “science and technology payloads” being provided by Intuitive will help support the Artemis program. This contract is valued at US$116.9 million.
NASA also paid Intuitive US$118 million for its construction and development of the Odysseus spacecraft this year. Through a collaboration with SpaceX in February, this lunar lander was the first craft to touch down on the moon since those on the Apollo 17 mission did so in 1972.
Intuitive Machines ( $LUNR) just snagged a BIG deal with NASA.
We're talking about a contract worth up to a cool $4.82 billion – yeah, BILLION with a B.
It's a long-term thing, this "indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity" contract, kicking off on October 1, 2024, and… pic.twitter.com/3OI0k8XFuN
— RAFA Finance (@finance_rafa) September 18, 2024
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U.S. Space Command pays Intuitive a visit
In August, leaders from the military space division at the American Department of Defense were given a tour of Intuitive’s Lunar Production and Operations Center in Houston.
This 105,000-square-foot facility at the Houston Spaceport was opened at the end of September last year after over two years of construction.
Its purpose is to support the completion of various contracts established with NASA. Multiple lunar landers and other spacecraft will be developed therein.
“The Moon is no longer a distant dream; it’s a destination within our grasp, and this facility is our lunar gateway – a national asset,” Altemus, Intuitive CEO and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said.
Gen. Stephen Whiting #USSPACECOM commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Jacob Simmons, USSPACECOM command senior enlisted leader, visited Intuitive Machines' Lunar Production and Operations Center where they met the team preparing for its second lunar mission. Intuitive Machines is… pic.twitter.com/KrEkSQFVDD
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) August 23, 2024
Intuitive Machines was added to TIME’s list of the world’s 100 most influential companies earlier this year.
Founded in 2013, the company’s history started with a series of ideas sketched on a napkin.
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