Intuitive Machines says its first Moon landing mission has been delayed to the third quarter of this year as it pursues a wider range of business opportunities. Chief Executive Officer Steve Altemus said in an earnings call on May 11 for the first time since the company went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in February, the company will have the Nova-C landing craft completed for the IM-1 mission. be “on the launch pad and preparing to launch” in the middle or end of the third quarter.

In February, the company announced plans to land in Malapert A, a crater near the moon’s south pole, in June. That date was pulled back from the previously scheduled March launch, which the company says was due to NASA’s decision to move the landing site to Malapert A.

Altemus said the company has made “significant progress” in landing craft testing in recent months, such as structural tests to confirm that the vehicle can handle the stresses of launch and cryogenic tank demonstrations. He said “we still have some functional testing” on the lander, but didn’t elaborate on the nature of those tests or their schedule before it was sent to Cape Canaveral for the Falcon 9 launch.

He acknowledged that the new schedule was “somewhat different from initial expectations” and that the second mission, scheduled for the fall, could affect the schedule of IM-2.

Mission IM-1 is carrying payloads for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, according to a mission released in May 2019. At that time, IM-1 was scheduled to land in July 2021. The order was initially valued at $77 million, but after several changes, including relocating the landing site under federal contract, the total cost has now reached $116.3 million. databases.

The company is competing with Astrobotic, which also received its first CLPS order in 2019, to become the first American company to set foot on the moon. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander was scheduled to launch on the first Vulcan Centaur this month, but United Launch Alliance delayed that launch due to an anomaly that occurred during testing of the Centaur’s upper stage in March. ULA said this week it is “advocating” the summer launch of the Vulcan rocket as it continues to test the rocket.

other issues

Although Intuitive Machines is best known for its moon landing vehicles, the company is expanding into other areas as well. The company partnered with KBR to win a NASA engineering services contract called Omnibus Multidisciplinary Engineering Services (OMES) III on April 18. The maximum contract value is $719 million over five years.

Altemus said in a phone call that the OMES III contract is the largest single contract won by Intuitive Machines. He claimed the contract would help him develop an “orbital services” business that would eventually include satellite maintenance and debris removal. “This win allows us to support NASA in the design, development, and demonstration of mission-critical technologies needed to support the strategically important and evolving orbital maintenance market.”

A NASA release of the contract described the contract as providing “multidisciplinary engineering services” that support “hardware and software for spaceflight, air, and ground systems, including the development and validation of new technologies for future space and science missions.” The release made no specific mention of satellite maintenance or related technologies, except that the contract included working with the center’s In-Space Services project division, among others.

The start of the OMES III contract was suspended after another bidder, SAIC, filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office on 8 May. The GAO has a deadline of August 16 to decide on the protest. Altemus downplayed the protest, noting that historical success rates for such protests are less than 10%. Adding that he did not know the details of SAIC’s protest, he said, “We have a lot of confidence in our proposal to the government.” “We are confident that the award will be valid once we get past this 100-day protest period for the GAO.”

In March, Intuitive Machines submitted a bid for a NASA competition to provide commercial services for the Near Space Network, which provides communications for missions in orbit and up to two million kilometers from Earth. This includes spacecraft that will act as communications relays in Earth orbit and around the Moon. NASA is expected to award several contracts in the third quarter.

Intuitive Machines has partnered with Raytheon, which Altemus says provides “the solutions and weight we may need for enterprise-class systems.” Intuitive Machines plans to develop its own constellation of lunar data transmission satellites to support land vehicles and other missions, and believes it’s ahead of competitors like Lockheed Martin subsidiary Crescent Space Services, which announced plans for a similar constellation in March.

The company will also lead a team called the Lunar Racer, which will compete in NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) competition for a manned lunar rover. This team includes Northrop Grumman, Boeing, AVL, Michelin and Roush. NASA is expected to release an LTV RFP later this month.

Northrop Grumman announced plans to build a rover in November 2021, where it will lead and Intuitive Machines will provide the landing craft that delivers the rover. Altemus doesn’t explain why he finished first on the team. A few other companies are likely to apply as well, such as teams led by Lockheed Martin, Leidos, and Astrolab. Intuitive Machines reported revenue of $18.2 million for this quarter, up from $18.5 million in the first quarter of 2022. The company’s work on three NASA CLPS orders provided two-thirds of the quarter’s revenue.

The company reported an operating loss of $14 million this quarter, up from $4.5 million in the same quarter a year ago. This loss included $2.8 million in one-time costs associated with the SPAC merger. The company expects revenue to grow from $168 million to $274 million in 2023, and chief financial officer Eric Sully said the company should report positive quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) through the fourth quarter.