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$9.8M Contract Propels Intuitive Machines’ Orbital Transfer Vehicle Toward Flight Readiness

  • Writer: Hunter Christian
    Hunter Christian
  • 9 hours ago
  • 2 min read

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR, “Intuitive Machines,” or the “Company”), a leading space technology and infrastructure services company, has secured a $9.8 million Phase Two government contract to advance its Orbital Transfer Vehicle (“OTV”) through Critical Design Review (“CDR”)—the final engineering milestone on a previously disclosed contract, before manufacturing begins. The Phase Two of the contract expands the Company’s growing government portfolio and signals increasing demand for its in-space mobility solutions beyond lunar surface delivery.  

Intuitive Machines believes this non-NASA award reinforces the Company’s strategic move to diversify its customer base and deliver orbital capabilities that span commercial, civil, and national security space operations.  

Built on the flight-proven Nova-C lander architecture, the OTV draws heritage from hardware and designs that have been successfully validated in two lunar missions, including trajectory refinement maneuvers, lunar orbit insertion, and main engine firings during descent.  

“Our OTV is a direct evolution of our lunar surface delivery missions—positioning us to expand into the rapidly growing market for in-space logistics,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “We’re leveraging our flight-proven technology to operate a mission-ready service that delivers customer payloads across orbits—from Earth to the Moon and beyond.” 

With an anticipated payload capacity of approximately 2,100 kilograms, the OTV is engineered for high-agility, time-efficient transfer of spacecraft and mission hardware across a wide range of destinations, including:  

  • Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) 

  • Geostationary Orbit (GEO) 

  • Lagrange Points 

  • Cislunar Injection Trajectories 

  • Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) 

  • Low Lunar Orbit (LLO) 

  • Interplanetary Destinations 

The vehicle’s optimized structure and propulsion architecture support flexible mission profiles and can evolve to meet future orbital servicing, logistics, and communications needs.  


Part of Intuitive Machines’ mission delivery service pillar, the OTV complements the Company’s growing portfolio of lunar landers, Earth reentry vehicles, and space-based data transmission infrastructure—delivering end-to-end mobility solutions for the Earth-Moon economy.  


With Critical Design Review underway, Intuitive Machines is preparing to begin manufacturing and flight integration as early as 2026—positioning the Company to support a new class of on-orbit logistics missions in service of government, commercial, and exploration customers.  


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