Intuitive Machines Announces Two Prime Lunar Reconnaissance Contracts

About this update from Intuitive Machines, Inc.

HOUSTON, May 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intuitive Machines, Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR) (“Intuitive Machines”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”), a space technology, infrastructure, and services leader, is now the prime contractor for operations of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (“LROC”), a key instrument aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ("LRO"), and the ShadowCam instrument, a specialized lunar imaging camera on board the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter that provides visibility in light obscured conditions such as dark and shadowed regions of the Moon. Pictured: LROC-sourced high-resolution image of the Moon's Reiner Gamma region, which is one of the most distinctive and enigmatic features on the Moon. Reconnaissance images like these will help navigate Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 mission, a planned robotic lunar landing mission under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. IM-3 aims to be the first to land inside the Reiner Gamma swirl. Under the $15.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee three-year prime contract for LROC and the $4.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee three-year prime contract for ShadowCam, Intuitive Machines is leading imaging operations, data storage and analysis, and mission support. The Company also is leading LROC’s Moon surface mapping operations, and advance ShadowCam imaging of permanently shadowed regions. Intuitive Machines plans to interpret and integrate the publicly available LROC Planetary Data System archive for its lunar data relay satellite constellation to provide orbital and surface navigation services across government and commercial exploration. “Exploration is empowered by data-driven insights,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “The experienced LROC team has mapped and analyzed the lunar surface in unprecedented detail. Now working alongside our data services group, the LROC team is advancing secure, real-time navigation and precision surface operations, laying the foundation for scalable lunar data services.” Since LRO’s launch in 2009, LROC has captured more than 2.6 million Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and more than 640,000 Wide Angle Camera (WAC) high-resolution images of the lunar surface as part of the LRO mission. The mission delivers insights that help shape lunar policy, guide infrastructure planning and development, and establish a framework for deep s...

View stock analysis, news, and events for Intuitive Machines, Inc.