Intuitive Machines says it is ready to fly to the Moon
Space
The Intuitive Machines-1 mission has a launch slot reserved from Nov. 15 through Nov. 20.
An artist's rendering of the Nova-C spacecraft on the lunar surface.
Intuitive Machines
A Houston-based company that is one of several US firms building private lunar landers, Intuitive Machines, says its 3-meter-tall Nova-C lander is finally ready to take to the skies.
"Our Nova-C lander is completely built," said Steve Altemus, co-founder and chief executive of Intuitive Machines, in an earnings call on Monday. "We will deliver a lunar lander ready to go in September."
- Intuitive Machines is competing with other US companies, including Astrobotic and Firefly, for NASA-funded missions to deliver science experiments and other payloads to the surface of the Moon.
- Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic were formally awarded the first of these "Commercial Lunar Payload Services" contracts in May 2019.
- Each of the companies is running a couple of years behind schedule in producing their landers, however.
- However, the spacecraft has not yet been shipped from its factory in Pittsburgh to the launch site in Florida because United Launch Alliance has not completed testing of its new Vulcan rocket.
- That mission, according to sources, could launch as early as mid-December.
Intuitive Machines has been lagging a bit behind Astrobotic but now appears to have caught up.
Because it has booked a ride on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, Intuitive Machines has the advantage of a vehicle that flies often and reliably—SpaceX has already launched more than 50 Falcon 9 rockets during this year.
The Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines missions are part of a flurry of activity expected on the lunar surface within the next several months.
The road to launch
- During the earnings call, Altemus said Intuitive Machines will conduct about two weeks of flight software testing in Houston, followed by electromagnetic interference tests to ensure that spacecraft operations do not have an adverse effect on the vehicle's five NASA payloads or those for commercial customers.
- Finally, there will be a center-of-gravity measurement before the Nova-C lander is shipped to the Florida launch site in one month.
Altemus said pre-launch processing at SpaceX's facilities at Kennedy Space Center, including fueling the spacecraft and encapsulating it in the Falcon 9 rocket's fairing, will take 35 days. This will be followed by a wet dress rehearsal and then the launch.
Currently, the Intuitive Machines-1 mission has a launch slot reserved from November 15 through November 20 on board a Falcon 9 lifting off from Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
- However, Altemus acknowledged that schedule changes are possible due to weather or if SpaceX has to launch higher-priority customers for the US military or NASA.
- If that's the case, the company has a backup window in December.
This mission is slated to land near the South Pole of the Moon, and it would mark the first time any US-led mission attempted to land near this polar region where scientists believe there may be large deposits of ice.
- A publicly traded company, Intuitive Machines reported $18 million in revenue during the second quarter of this year, with an operating loss of $13.2 million.
- The company has $39.1 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand.
- Altemus said the firm's multiple lines of business—lunar landers, lunar data services, and in-space services—are all demonstrating growth.
- Intuitive Machines, he said, is already well along in building its second Nova-C spacecraft for another NASA mission in 2024.
Intuitive Machines is also among the bidders for a large NASA contract to provide a next-generation lunar rover for NASA as part of its Artemis Program to explore the Moon.
Eric Berger / Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston.
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Intuitive Machines sets mid-November launch date for first lunar lander
The company announced Aug. 14 as part of its second quarter financial results that its IM-1 lunar lander mission is slated for launch on a Falcon 9 during a six-day window that opens Nov. 15 at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A backup launch window is available in December.
During an earnings call, Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, said the company was wrapping up testing of the Nova-C lander for IM-1 in advance of shipment to Cape Canaveral. “Today, our IM-1 lander is complete and will be prepared for delivery in September.”
He cautioned, though, that the date was subject to availability of the Eastern Range and of LC-39A, which is used for crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station and Falcon Heavy launches. “With the congestion for launches using pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, we recognize that higher-priority missions are always possible,” he said.
IM-1 is not only the first lunar lander mission by Intuitive Machines but also potentially the first lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is complete but awaiting the readiness of its launcher, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur. That rocket’s inaugural flight, with Peregrine as the prime payload, is planned for no earlier than the fourth quarter.
IM-1 is the first of three lunar lander missions that the company has in development as part of CLPS. Altemus said the company is building the lander structure and integrating NASA payloads for the IM-2 mission. He did not give a projected launch date for IM-2, which was once expected to launch before the end of the year, several months after IM-1.
He said the company is awaiting a decision on a proposal for another CLPS mission, designated CP-22 by NASA, to deliver a drill to the lunar south pole. However, he said the agency has delayed the award of that task order from the third quarter of 2023 to November.
The company said schedule slips in contract awards like the CLPS task order was one reason the company was withdrawing earlier financial guidance it offered. The company had earlier forecast revenues of $174 million to $268 million for the year, ending 2023 with a cash balance of $49 million.
Intuitive Machines reported $18 million in revenue in the second quarter, primarily from its CLPS work, down from $19.2 million in the same quarter of 2022. It had an operating loss of $13.2 million and ended the quarter with $39.1 million of cash.
Erik Sallee, chief financial officer of Intuitive Machines, said on the call that “delays on government acquisition timelines and U.S. federal budget uncertainty” led the company to withdraw that guidance. He added it was not linked to any contract losses sustained by the company. “We haven’t lost anything that we previously had in our forecast,” he said. “It all shifted out to the right.”
One of those delays was with a NASA engineering services contract called Omnibus Multidiscipline Engineering Services (OMES) III. Intuitive Machines teamed with KBR to win the contract, valued at up to $719 million over five years, in April. Another bidder, SAIC, filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office in May, delaying the start of that work.
The GAO rejected the SAIC protest Aug. 8, allowing NASA to proceed with the OMES III contract award to KBR and Intuitive Machines. The value of OMES III was not included in the company’s backlog of $137.3 million it reported at the end of the second quarter, and Altemus said the company was projecting to start work on that engineering services contract in the fourth quarter.
The company also is bidding on NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle contract to develop rovers to be offered as services for future Artemis crewed missions. Altemus said he expects NASA to make multiple awards under that program, potentially in the fourth quarter.
While the company only has enough cash to last three quarters at its current rate of operating losses, Sallee said that money along with revenue should be sufficient. He added, though, that the company could tap a $50 million equity financing facility “to provide further cushion, if needed.”
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