NASA's strategy pivot brings uncertainty to Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machine's (LUNR) shares closed up 14% on Monday as retail investors appeared be bullish on the company being chosen for NASA's Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) program, which many expected to be announced during the agency's day-long event on Tuesday in which it was unveiling new initiatives behind America's space policy.
Intuitive Machines was one of the finalists for the closely watched program, competing against Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab. Although new NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman had indicated earlier this year that a decision on the LTV program would likely be announced by the end of February, that deadline passed with no announcement.
But on Tuesday, the reason for the delay was made clear. Isaacman announced that NASA was cancelling plans to deploy a space station in low Earth orbit and will instead be investing $20 billion to construct a base on the moon's surface over the next seven years.
“On the Moon, we are shifting to a focused, phased architecture that builds capability landing by landing, incrementally, and in alignment with our industrial and international partners,” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said in a statement.
“In low Earth orbit (LEO), we are recognizing where the market is and where it isn’t, recognizing the incredible value of the International Space Station, and building a transition that builds a competitive commercial ecosystem rather than forcing a single outcome the market cannot support.”
This change in strategy has now brought uncertainty to Intuitive Machines because the LTV program was meant to transport astronauts to and from the space station, which was going to be called Gateway.
Instead, NASA will be changing the current contract and its procurement strategy for the LTV program in order to allow for multiple solicitations, which seems to indicate that it it is reopening the bidding process in order to adapt to its new moon base directive.
LUNR shares plunged nearly 12% on Tuesday.
Intuitive Machines did not come away empty-handed
However, the selloff could've been somewhat shortsighted as investors were narrowly focused on the fate of the LTV program.
In fact, Intuitive Machines said on Tuesday that it had been awarded a $180.4 million contract by NASA to deliver seven science and technology payloads to the Lunar South Pole region. These payloads include an Australian Space Agency lunar rover and technologies from Blue Origin's Honeybee Robotics.
The company said that its space infrastructure, Lunar landing system, Space Data Network (“SDN”) and autonomous surface operations capabilities will be used to support the payload delivery.
Intuitive Machines notes that this latest award is the fifth "task order" it has received as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) initiative.
While the company had suffered a couple of mishaps last year during lunar landing missions in which its landers tipped over once reaching the moon's surface, it finally was able to successfully make it to the moon through what it called its IM-1 and IM-2 missions. It is now planning to launch IM-3, IM-4 and IM-5 missions.
“We believe our space infrastructure provides the scalability and flexibility needed to support an increased cadence of new Artemis missions and advance national objectives,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said in a statement. “This CLPS award accelerates our expansion efforts as we build, connect, and operate the systems powering that infrastructure.”
The company last week reported $44.8 million in revenue for the fourth quarter, badly missing Wall Street's estimates of $59 million. But the company raised its full-year outlook for 2026 and expects to bring in as much as $1 billion in revenue for the year.