Intuitive Machines (LUNR) made history in February when it became the first private space company to land on the moon.
Currently, efforts are being made to accelerate the development of the lunar economy.
Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that the company's cost structure and ability to streamline lunar missions will ultimately lead it to lead in the global race for lunar development. He said he could take control.
“We designed and developed a mission to the moon at a cost of about $118 million and accomplished it in about four years,” Altemus said. “We've completely disrupted the industry in terms of the economics of flying to the moon.”
The first IM-1 mission saw Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lunar lander successfully reach the moon's surface in February, but the week-long mission faced significant challenges when the craft tilted sideways during landing. . Although this prevented Intuitive Machines from fulfilling its full mission, her onboard NASA research instruments were able to send back data from the experiment.
Intuitive Machines is currently looking ahead to its second lunar mission, IM-2, scheduled for November. Artemus said the company reviewed the first mission for 30 days to improve the technology for the second round.
“You can improve your ability to land accurately 20 times,” Artemus said. “Antarctica is [of the moon] You will need it. That's what we're continually doing, making improvements to achieve pinpoint accuracy. ”
Intuitive Machines is one of the few private startups with funding from NASA to develop a low-cost transportation system to the moon. The agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program has secured $2.6 billion for more than a dozen companies to bring NASA research results to the moon's surface with payloads for commercial customers.
These missions lay the foundation for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon. Artemis' first crewed mission has been postponed to 2025 as lead contractor Lockheed Martin (LMT) develops the Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts.
Meanwhile, Intuitive Machines is positioned to own end-to-end operations between Earth and the Moon, and is strategically betting on the critical infrastructure needed to enable long-term stays on the Moon. ing.
The company recently won a $30 million contract from NASA to develop a lunar terrain rover that will shuttle Artemis astronauts to and from the moon's surface. Intuitive Machines also developed a lunar data network that enables communications and data relay services for the spacecraft.
“As a company, our vision is to work with our family of landers to deliver space systems to the surface, provide command and control and navigation in and around the moon, and enable operations on the surface,” Altemus said. ” he said. “I think this guy is the only one from Intuitive Machines that has all three elements.”
NASA estimates that human activity in the region of space between the Earth and the Moon will exceed all activity since 1957 in the next 10 years alone. That possibility led the White House to develop its first science and technology strategy to “support responsible, peaceful, and sustainable exploration.”
The relative success of the first mission gave Intuitive Machines a boost. The company increased its cash balance to $54.6 million in the first three months of this year after institutional investors exercised their stock options. The company also raised $10 million through equity and said it has “sufficient capital for the short term.”
Intuitive Machines stock is up about 138% since the beginning of the year. However, the company that entered the public market through a SPAC was more vulnerable to large swings due to perceived risks compared to competitors that chose to remain private.
“When we move away from SPACs, we move from individual investors to institutional investors, so the volatility in stock prices increases considerably,'' Altemus said. “Therefore, as the company matures, we should see a greater investment contribution from institutional investors, providing some stability to the stock price in the long run.”
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