WASHINGTON — Intuitive Machines says it is on firmer financial ground after its first lunar landing as the company works on its next mission and pursues other contracts.
The Houston-based company reported March 21 an operating loss of $56.2 million in 2023 on $75.5 million. The revenue was slightly lower than the $85.9 million the company reported in 2022, when it had an operating loss of $5.5 million.
The company ended the year with a cash balance of just $4.5 million, but that grew to $54.6 million by March 1. Steve Vontur, acting chief financial officer, said on an earnings call the increase came from the exercise of stock warrants by an unnamed institutional investor and strategic investments.
“We are confident that the cash balance carries us through the year. That’s with no additional wins,” Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, said on the call.
The company, he argued, is in a “fantastic position” to win additional contracts. Several could come as soon as the second quarter, such as a new task order from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, the agency’s Near Space Network Services program for cislunar communications services and the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) program.
NASA announced March 19 that it will select the company, or companies, to participate in the LTV program April 3. Intuitive Machines submitted a proposal, competing against several established and entrepreneurial companies, offering a rover delivered to the moon on the company’s Nova-D lander.
Altemus said that while LTV has a total value of more than $4 billion, the initial contracts to be announced next month will be feasibility studies valued at about $30 million each over one year. Intuitive Machines is leading a team that includes AVL, Boeing, Michelin and Northrop Grumman.
The company is starting to generate revenue from the OMES III engineering support contract from NASA it won last year. The company…
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