 | |
 Lunar Operations Facility at Houston Spaceport | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: LUNR | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 2013; 12 years ago (2013) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Houston, Texas ,U.S. |
Key people | |
| Products | Lunar lander,Mission Control Center,Ground stations,additive manufacturing |
Number of employees | 400[3] (2024) |
| Website | intuitivemachines |
Intuitive Machines, Inc. is an Americanspace exploration company headquartered inHouston, Texas. It was founded in 2013 by Stephen Altemus,Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain,[4] to provide commercial and governmentexploration of the Moon. Today the company offers lunar surface access for transportation and payload delivery, data transmission services, andinfrastructure-as-a-service.[not verified in body] Intuitive Machines holds threeNASA contracts under the space agency'sCommercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines is one of three companies selected by NASA to advanceLunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) capabilities.[not verified in body]
Intuitive Machines, LLC,went public in February 2023 after merging with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp., aspecial-purpose acquisition company. The company isincorporated in Delaware, and trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol, LUNR.[5]
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. In February 2024, Intuitive Machines'Odysseus lander experienced a soft but unstable landing on the lunar surface, ultimately tipping over and receiving minimal data from payloads before entirely losing communications.[6] Despite not meeting many mission objectives,Odysseus is the first American spacecraft to land on the surface of the Moon since the Apollo Program,[7] and the mission is considered a partial success by most industry experts.[8][not verified in body] The next Intuitive Machines' lunar mission (IM-2 and theAthena lander) in March 2025 suffered the same fate as its predecessor, tipping over due to problems with the lander's laser altimeter.[9]
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Intuitive Machines, Inc. was founded in 2013 by Stephen Altemus,Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain,[4] to provide commercial and government exploration of the Moon.[citation needed] It is incorporated in Delaware,[10] and headquartered inHouston, Texas.[11]
Intuitive Machines merged with thespecial-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (IPAX) to become a publicly held company, a transaction that was completed on February 14, 2023,[12][13][14] and its stock began trading on theNasdaq that day.[15][16]
On November 4, 2025, Intuitive Machines announced that it would buyLanteris Space Systems fromAdvent International in a transaction worth $800 million.[17]
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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:[18] Transportation and delivery of payloads (satellites, scientific instruments, cargo), including rideshare delivery and lunar surface access;[19] collection, processing, and interpretation of space-based data, through command, control, communications, reconnaissance, and prospecting;[20] and infrastructure on the lunar surface, including space assets to perform tasks and make decisions without human intervention.[21] These functions may include navigation, maintenance, scientific data collection, and system health monitoring.[citation needed]
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In November 2018, IM was selected by NASA as one of nine companies to bid on theCommercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS).[22] Their lander, Nova-C, was NASA CLPS first mission of the program, focused on the exploration and use of natural resources of the Moon.[23]
On May 31, 2019, NASA announced it had awarded Intuitive Machines $77 million to build and launch their Nova-C Moon lander.[24][25][26][11]
On April 13, 2020, IM, under contract to carry NASA science instruments to the Moon on a robotic spacecraft,[27] said that its first lunar mission would target a deep, narrow valley namedVallis Schröteri.[citation needed] The mission objective was to place the Nova-C lander at crater Malapert A, near the south pole of the Moon.[28]
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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[29]).[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'Odysseus lander experienced a hard landing on the lunar surface, ultimately tipping over and receiving minimal data from paylaods before entirely losing communications.[6] Despite the failure to meet many mission objectives,Odysseus is considered the first American spacecraft to land on the surface of the Moon since the Apollo Program. The lander survived for six days total.[30]
TheOdysseus 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 by Intuitive Machines and the sponsoring customer, NASA.[31][citation needed]
IM-2Athena was launched on February 27, 2025,[32] carrying Micro-NovaGracie 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-2Athena has completed its propulsion system'shot fire test, the most complex integrated test of the lander thus far.[citation needed]
TheAthena lander achieved soft landing on March 6, 2025, but landed on its side, precluding recharging and deployment of payloads.[33] Operations concluded March 7, 2025,[34] less than 13 hours after the hard landing.[35] On March 13, Intuitive Machines shared that, like on the IM-1 mission, theAthena'saltimeter 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 playersliding into a base. The impact also kicked upregolith that coated the solar panels in dust, further degrading their performance.[36]
The third lunar delivery mission is undergoing integrated vibration testing with an anticipated mission window in early 2026.[37][38][independent source needed] This planned mission is designed to deploy the first of five data relay satellites under a Near Space Network Services contract.[38][independent source needed]
The fourth surface delivery mission intends to deliver the next two data relay satellites.[39][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]
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.[40][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 aSaaS-type revenue model.[citation needed]
In April 2023, Space Networks Solution,[41] a joint venture of Intuitive Machines andKBR, was awarded a five year contract worth up to $719 million to support NASA'sJoint Polar Satellite System.[42][43]
In September 2022, Intuitive Machines announced that it would merge intospecial-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (IPAX) andincorporate 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.[13][14]
The stock of the newly named Intuitive Machines, Inc., began trading on theNasdaq exchange on February 14, 2023.[15][16]
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 theCTO of Intuitive Machines. In an interview with NASA recorded in October 2023, Crain mentioned the possible development of a Nova-D lander.[44][45]
Intuitive Machines has 3 founders. They are Stephen Altemus... Kam Ghaffarian... Tim Crain...
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