Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Odysseus lander will be deployed from the upper stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch the IM-1 mission.
NASA television
Shares of Intuitive machines The increase rose for the second day in a row after the company issued an update saying its lunar landing mission was “in excellent condition.”
The Texas-based lunar company launched its first cargo mission, known as IM-1, on a SpaceX rocket early Thursday morning.
In an update Friday afternoon, Intuitive wrote that the mission remains on track, but that the first attempt to ignite the lander’s engine was delayed. This represents a step that Intuitive calls “engine startup,” the first start of the engine in the vacuum of space. The company said it tested the engine “thousands of times” before the mission, but the timing of the process needed to be adjusted after reviewing the mission data.
Intuitive did not announce when it would begin commissioning the engine, but repeated previous statements that the lander was in “excellent shape.”
Shares of Intuitive Machines rose as much as 30% in early trading Friday before ending the day with earnings falling 9% to $7.32 per share.
The stock rose 35% on Thursday after the successful launch of the IM-1 mission. Since IM-1’s launch, Intuitive Machines stock had gained 47% through Friday’s close.
However, the company’s shares are still trading below their debut price following the SPAC merger a year ago.
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Andrew Chanin, CEO of ProcureAM, which is leading this “UFO” The space-focused ETF stressed to CNBC that it is “never shocked to see the volatility of a space company, especially a pure-play space company,” noting that the still-unprofitable Intuitive Machines is a relatively small company by market size .
“We support them. To the extent that they can demonstrate success here…hopefully that will lead to more belief that this can be done,” Chanin said.
The IM-1 lander, which carries both government and commercial research payloads, is expected to travel to the moon for about eight days before attempting a landing on February 22.
“Right now there is a huge focus on the moon. Most investors currently do not have much, if any, exposure to space, and to the extent that U.S. commercial companies, [NASA]“If foreign governments see success on the moon, it seems that this will only encourage other companies to also focus more on the moon and spend more money there,” Chanin said.
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2024-02-16 21:07:42
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