Ignition Sets a Challenge the Space Industry Must Meet

By Steve Altemus  NASA’s “Ignition” announcement, as presented by Administrator Jared Isaacman this week, outlined an unquestionably bold vision to accelerate the United States’ return to the Moon in a sustainable way. This vision puts us, as an industry, on footing that defies the impossible. The timelines for delivery are incredibly short, and the technical hurdles appear insurmountable. However,  

Imagine what we can achieve and how far we will go if we accept and embrace NASA’s challenge. 

The vision and new initiatives, supported by funding and procurement activity, give the industry a clear set of objectives and a formidable schedule to work against. That clarity changes how companies organize, invest, and execute.  

Embracing NASA’s call for high-cadence missions to test the systems for a Moon Base and use existing hardware may not achieve 100% success, but we will certainly go farther than we ever imagined without a crisp and concise vision. 

Regular flights to the Moon allow systems to be tested, refined, and reused in a way that single serial missions cannot support. Each mission contributes data, informs designs, improves reliability, and reduces uncertainty for the next. Over time, that sequence builds confidence in both the hardware and the teams operating it. This cadence builds reliability in our supply chains. This cadence allows a burgeoning lunar economy to take root and flourish in the United States. 

To see the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative model be placed at the forefront of igniting the lunar economy gives me confidence in our Nation’s new direction. The CLPS model was groundbreaking, incredibly challenging, and unprecedented. We accepted the challenge and returned the United States to the Moon with small-scale commercial landers at a fixed price and an unimaginable schedule. That model succeeded in establishing new capabilities in our supply chains, organizing operational flight programs, creating mission operations, refining advanced development engineering and testing, and set the standard for how to work in a cost-constrained environment to achieve what others thought was impossible.  

To date, Intuitive Machines has been awarded five lunar delivery contracts. Having completed and landed two of our five missions on the Moon’s south pole, we see the CLPS model—which disrupted and forced the industry to innovate—now being applied to create a Moon base, to establish data networks around the Moon, and launch the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft to Mars, SR-1 Freedom. 

At Intuitive Machines, we are committed to the agency’s bold vision to go beyond CLPS delivery missions in establishing a Moon Base and reaching far beyond into the solar system to Mars. We commit to helping to develop and fly crewed and uncrewed surface vehicles as part of the LTV service. We commit to working to establish a lunar communications and navigation constellation working to establish a global Near Space Network for data relay and navigation around the Moon. 

In addition, through the extensive work performed on the Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), the most powerful solar electric propulsion spacecraft ever built, we are committed to NASA's vision of repurposing this incredible spacecraft to serve as the centerpiece of the U.S. flagship mission to Mars, the SR-1 Freedom nuclear electric propulsion element. This solar and nuclear propulsive element will fly to Mars and deliver the “Skyfall” payload to the surface, representing the boldest advanced propulsion mission ever attempted.  

These challenges are aligned with our strategy to build spacecraft, connect networks, and operate infrastructure in space. Yet, the strategy of one company will not achieve all of these ambitious goals. It takes the power and innovation of the U.S. economy and the entire space sector. It takes a bold vision to unite us and stretch us to reach for the unobtainable. We have that now. 

We believe Intuitive Machines will answer the challenge by blending quality production with the speed of execution to answer the call for the United States. As a community, let’s embrace the vision and strive to meet the calling for U.S. leadership in space exploration beginning with the Moon and extending out into the solar system.  

Steve Altemus is the Co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) and served as Deputy Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.