Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander is on display at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
NASA
Shares of Intuitive machines rose 16% on Friday following the company’s successful first moon landing.
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C cargo lunar lander known as “Odysseus” on Thursday became the first privately developed spacecraft to land on the lunar surface – and the first U.S. spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon in more than 50 years.
The Houston, Texas-based company confirmed that the IM-1 mission lander was upright and sending data back to Earth.
“Odysseus has found its new home,” Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines’ CTO and IM-1 mission director, said Thursday evening from the company’s mission control.
Intuitive Machines shares initially rose 40%, but then gave up gains on high trading volume to close at $9.59 per share. The company has a market value of approximately $1 billion.
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The company’s shares have trended higher over the past month as excitement grew ahead of and progress on the IM-1 mission. Intuitive Machines went public via a SPAC a year ago and shares had fallen steadily to all-time lows near $2 in January.
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Intuitive Machines inventory for the last 5 days.
Wall Street analysts stressed to CNBC before the landing that the unprecedented nature of the event could lead to volatile momentum trading.
“We have never seen a listed company fail [a moon landing attempt]. “So this is new, not just for investors but also for us analysts,” Cantor Fitzgerald’s Andres Sheppard said before landing.
In a note to investors after the landing, Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target on Intuitive Machines stock from $4 per share to $13 per share.
“In our view, this validates the company’s technology and significantly increases the company’s credibility. “As a result, we believe Intuitive Machines is now very well positioned to continue to benefit from the growing commercial space economy and subsequent launches,” Sheppard wrote the note.
The IM-1 lander “Odysseus” in lunar orbit on February 21, 2024.
Intuitive machines
Intuitive Machines said in a statement Friday morning that “Odysseus is alive and well,” noting that the lander is charging its solar panels.
“Air traffic controllers communicate and command the vehicle to download scientific data,” the company said.
The company and NASA plan to hold a press conference on Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
The Odysseus lander carried 12 government and commercial payloads – six of which were destined for NASA under a $118 million contract through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Intuitive Machines has already secured two additional CLPS contracts for future lander missions, with IM-2 expected to launch as early as the second half of this year.
Additionally, the company is part of a five-year, $719 million contract to provide engineering services to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Analysts expect the Goddard contract to bring in about $11 million a month in revenue for Intuitive Machines. Cantor Fitzgerald estimates the company will generate revenue of about $338 million in fiscal 2024.
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2024-02-23 21:06:06
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