Intuitive Machines is an American space exploration company that provides lunar surface access, payload delivery, and data transmission services. As a NASA CLPS partner, they design and build lunar landers like Nova-C to transport payloads to the Moon. Their customers include NASA, for whom they deliver science instruments and technology demonstrations as part of the Artemis program, and they are developing lunar data relay satellites. Intuitive Machines aims to commercialize the Moon through infrastructure and services.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER was submitted for NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract.
Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 lander fell over upon touchdown in 2025 and operated for only half a day before shutting down.
Intuitive Machines’ Micro Nova hopper-rover hybrid is designed to traverse challenging terrain and support distributed lunar operations.
Intuitive Machines developed the IM-1 mission with a methalox engine.
Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lander fell over upon touchdown in 2024.
NASA did not select Lunar Outpost, Astrolab, and Intuitive Machines proposals for its original lunar terrain vehicle competition after the Ignition event.
Then-NASA administrator Bill Nelson called Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus and asked whether the company could reach the Moon by March.
In March 2026, Intuitive Machines received a $180.4 million CLPS task order to deliver NASA-funded science and technology to the lunar surface.
The 13 CLPS contractors are Astrobotic Technology, Blue Origin, Ceres Robotics, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, Lockheed Martin Space, Moon Express, Orbit Beyond, Redwire Space Sensors, Sierra Space, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems.
On April 15, 2026, Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus sold 13,751 shares to cover mandatory tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of restricted stock units.
Intuitive Machines is focused on the IM-3 and IM-4 flights during the remainder of 2026 while scaling its SDN capabilities.
Lanteris Space Systems is Intuitive Machines’ primary vehicle for defense growth and is targeted at the U.S. Space Force’s proliferated military space architectures.
Intuitive Machines acquired Lanteris Space Systems in February 2026.
Intuitive Machines has a market capitalization exceeding $4.4 billion.
On April 16, 2026, SEC Form 4 filings showed that Intuitive Machines Senior Vice President and CFO Peter McGrath disposed of 24,554 Class A shares at an average price of $23.608, totaling approximately $580,000.
Intuitive Machines was selected by L3Harris to support the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture Tranche 3 Tracking Layer.
The IX joint venture was formed by Intuitive Machines and X-energy to compete for NASA and Department of Energy fission surface power contracts.
Intuitive Machines received an $8.2 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract extension in October 2025 to advance in-space nuclear power technology.
Intuitive Machines has turned away more than half a mission’s worth of payloads because its launch timing did not match customer timing.
Intuitive Machines is out of space for payloads about 18 months before launch.