Intuitive Machines’ Space Data Network Leverages Core Technologies from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Space missions depend on continuous access to data for navigation, communications, coordination, and research outcomes. Existing space-based networks are often fragmented, mission-specific, and constrained by coverage, bandwidth, and latency. These limitations make it harder for customers to maintain reliable contact, coordinate across assets, extract data, and deploy missions with confidence. 

To address these challenges, Intuitive Machines is building a Space Data Network (SDN) that spans Earth-proximity, cislunar, and extended cislunar regions, supporting activity from the surface of the Moon to two million kilometers from Earth. It is designed to serve a diverse set of customers, including commercial operators, national space agencies, national security space, and scientific institutions. Ushering in the era of space-based IoT, the SDN can power launch, robotic exploration, lunar surface operations, orbital platforms, and reentry coordination. For national programs, it is designed to enable mission-critical operations such as reentry coordination, logistics, and situational awareness in cislunar space. In scientific research, real-time data delivery from lunar and orbital platforms accelerates experiment analysis and improves outcomes. For the commercial industry, the network supports hosted payloads and flexible deployment models, reducing reliance on custom satellite builds and expanding access to lunar infrastructure.  

To meet the growing demand for reliable infrastructure in space, Intuitive Machines is partnering with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The company and APL formally signed a cooperation agreement in November 2024, at the request of the U.S. government, to partner on providing safe, secure, and reliable communications and navigation infrastructure in cislunar space. Intuitive Machines is also leveraging the deep space expertise of KinetX Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, to co-develop foundational technologies that will power the company’s SDN. These include advanced communications, navigation, and data services designed to support autonomous systems and enable sustained operations across the lunar region. This collaboration also works to align SDN operations with the needs of civil, defense, and commercial space missions.  

Enabling Space Operations with Minimal Latency 

In traditional space networks, raw space data is converted into signals and transmitted to Earth via heavily scheduled ground infrastructure, introducing delays from limited availability, bandwidth constraints, and rigid scheduling windows. Once the signals are received, the data is extracted and routed through mission-specific systems that are often custom-built and siloed, limiting interoperability and complicating cross-mission coordination. 

While some spacecraft are beginning to incorporate autonomous capabilities, most missions still rely heavily on Earth-based systems for navigation, timing, and operational decision-making. This dependence introduces further delays, increases mission complexity and risk, and limits responsiveness, especially in dynamic or time-sensitive scenarios. 

Finally, Earth-based teams process and distribute the data, relying on ground-based tracking systems that can add latency and reduce responsiveness for time-sensitive operations. Factors like limited network throughput, constrained ground station access, and rigid scheduling protocols can stretch this process from several hours to many days. Ultimately, these limitations make it difficult for operators and customers to access recent data and efficiently extract useful information to support timely operational decisions. 

Now, with the Intuitive Machines SDN powered by technologies co-developed with APL and supported by deep space navigation expertise from KinetX, customers can bypass the delays, dependencies, and fragmentation of traditional architectures. This enables them to retrieve and act on their space data with minimal latency without waiting on ground station schedules, Earth-based tracking, or siloed mission systems. For example, spacecraft in lunar orbit could connect directly to lunar relay satellites using integrated waveforms that support both legacy and modern payloads, eliminating scheduling bottlenecks.  

Data is routed through APL’s LunaNet-aligned common overlay router, which unifies diverse systems into a seamless network for real-time coordination. Meanwhile, onboard navigation systems allow spacecraft to determine position and timing without Earth-based tracking, enabling faster decisions and greater independence across distributed missions. Together, these capabilities reduce the time it takes to access and act on space data from hours or days to near real-time, enabling more responsive operations, faster coordination, and greater autonomy across the mission lifecycle. Our objective is for the only meaningful delay in communications to be governed by the speed of light and transmission distance. 

Precision Navigation and Timing 

Precise Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) helps an SDN support autonomous operations, real-time coordination, and Earth-independent mission execution across near-Earth, cislunar, and deep-space domains. For end users, this means faster decision-making, reduced reliance on ground infrastructure, and greater mission flexibility, whether coordinating surface mobility, executing orbital rendezvous, or managing reentry trajectories.  

To deliver this capability, Intuitive Machines is drawing on two core sources of expertise. In collaboration with APL, the company is developing a distributed navigation architecture that enables spacecraft to share timing and positional data across missions, reducing dependence on Earth-based tracking and rigid scheduling of assets. This system supports autonomous coordination and aligns with broader efforts to increase responsiveness and reduce latency in space operations. 

KinetX, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intuitive Machines, contributes deep space navigation expertise that complements and strengthens the SDN architecture. As the only commercial company certified by NASA for deep space navigation, KinetX has supported dozens of successful lunar and interplanetary missions, including Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 and IM-2 asteroid missions, and to the farthest reaches of the solar system. Its proprietary navigation software and precision flight dynamics capabilities are now integrated into the SDN, enhancing autonomous coordination and enabling scalable infrastructure for NASA, national security, and commercial customers operating across the near-Earth, cislunar, and Mars-vicinity missions. This level of precision was delivered when KinetX mission operations and navigation achieved nanometer-per-second squared acceleration modeling and control on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to retrieve samples from the Bennu asteroid.  

Exploring Other Core SDN Technologies 

Waveform, navigation, and common overlay router technologies co-developed by Intuitive Machines and APL — and strengthened by KinetX’s precision flight dynamics — form the backbone of the SDN. They enable full space data lifecycle support and power real-time coordination and autonomy across lunar, cislunar, and deep space operations.  

To support scalable satellite communications, Intuitive Machines is exporting integrated waveform solutions onto its lunar data relay satellites. These waveforms combine NASA-developed low-rate protocols with high-data-rate commercial options, enabling compatibility with both legacy and modern payloads. This dual-mode approach improves seamless integration across payload generations, reduces mission risk, expands bandwidth, and accelerates deployment. Enabled by mature technologies originally developed by APL for NASA missions, the joint Intuitive Machines and APL solution aligns with government standards while unlocking commercial scalability. 

APL’s common overlay router, aligned with NASA’s LunaNet specifications, integrates heterogeneous systems into a unified network. It supports Intuitive Machines’ lunar data relay constellation by enabling seamless data exchange between orbiting assets and Earth, simplifying coordination, and improving reliability across mission phases. 

Learn how you can leverage the Intuitive Machines SDN to build your next mission. 

As more organizations and industries expand into space, the demand for flexible, secure, and scalable infrastructure continues to grow. The Intuitive Machines SDN provides that foundation, delivering secure and scalable telemetry, tracking, and PNT services, along with full data lifecycle capabilities from acquisition to delivery. The SDN supports commercial mission requirements, national security objectives, and NASA’s Artemis lunar, cislunar, and deep space operations. 

Connect with Intuitive Machines to explore how an SDN can power your operations from the Moon to Mars and beyond. 

NASA Awards Intuitive Machines Near Space Network Contract with a Maximum Potential Value of $4.82 Billion 

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