Key Points
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NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines a fifth “IM” mission to put a lander on the moon.
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Intuitive will develop a larger Nova-D lander for the mission, and be paid at least $180 million.
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Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) stock exploded higher on Wednesday, soaring 19.8% through 10:15 a.m. ET after announcing it has won a fifth lunar lander contract from NASA, “IM-5.”
Awarded under the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the contract is worth $180.4 million to space company Intuitive Machines, and may generate additional revenue for payloads carried in addition to the NASA cargo.
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Image source: Intuitive Machines.
Details, please
To date, Intuitive Machines has won four “IM” missions from NASA and landed two Nova-C spacecraft on the moon. Neither mission was 100% successful; both toppled over on their sides after landing. The company appears to have a plan for that, however. As depicted above, the company’s newer and larger Nova-D lander that will conduct IM-5 appears shorter and squatter than its predecessor, Nova-C, and thus less top-heavy and less likely to wobble on landing.
IM-5 will deliver seven science and technology payloads, including lunar rovers from Blue Origin company Honeybee Robotics and the Australian Space Agency, to the Lunar South Pole Region. Intuitive will also test technology for its new Space Data Network (SDN), part of a separate $4.8 billion NASA contract the company previously won.
What it means for Intuitive Machines stock
The extra $180 million from NASA (plus whatever Intuitive can charge commercial customers for adding supplemental payloads) is a nice win for Intuitive Machines, and winning a contract at all confirms NASA’s confidence in the company’s ability to figure out a fix for its landers Weeble-wobbling all over the moon.
The really big prize, though, will be if Intuitive Machines can use IM-5 to advance its SDN contract and start raking in recurring revenue by directing data traffic between Earth and moon. The sooner that happens, the better for Intuitive Machines stock.
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