NASA has awarded a contract worth up to $719 million to Space & Technology Solutions, a joint venture led by Intuitive Machines Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR) with KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR). Both companies are based in Houston.
The five-year contract starts July 1 and is intended to support work related to the Joint Polar Satellite System program and NASA’s Exploration & In-space Services projects division. The work will include engineering services for the study, design, systems engineering, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification and operations of spaceflight, airborne and ground system hardware and software, including development and validation of new technologies to enable future space and science missions, NASA said.
The main purpose of NASA's Omnibus Multidiscipline Engineering Services III contract is to support the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, according to NASA and Intuitive Machines. That end-to-end science mission operation is instrumental in designing missions, building satellites and instruments, operating and controlling spacecraft, and acquiring and distributing data to the science community worldwide, per Intuitive Machines.
“Humanity’s advancement into the solar system is built upon more than a decade of innovation under NASA’s OMES contract, and Intuitive Machines intends to continue that legacy,” said Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines. “This win is of strategic importance, allowing Intuitive Machines to support NASA in designing, developing, and demonstrating critical technology required to support the emerging orbital servicing market, and a validation of the company’s experience in spacecraft development, autonomous systems, and near-space communications. We look forward to collaborating with NASA to push the boundaries of what’s possible in space.”
The advances made by Texas companies such as Intuitive Machines — which recently went public — led professional services firm PriceWaterCoopers to rank the Lone Star State first in the nation in aerospace investment in a recent report. With more than 138,000 professionals in the fields at more than 1,800 installations across the state operated by 18 of the world’s top 20 aerospace manufacturers, Texas was found to be best equipped foster defense and aerospace growth, per the report.
Additionally, space leaders are expecting an "explosion of opportunity" in the low-Earth-orbit economy. According to a February brief from NASA, the commercial LEO economy depends on private flights that can bring astronauts into space for tourism, commercial research and in-space manufacturing.
Meanwhile, KBR has maintained a long relationship with NASA, President and CEO Stuart Bradie told the Houston Business Journal in 2019. Prior to merging with M.W. Kellogg in 1998 to become KBR, Brown & Root Engineering and Construction actually helped build the Manned Spacecraft Center, now known as Johnson Space Center, in Houston. Brown & Root also tested liquid hydrogen in its labs, a liquid propellant that was used to fly the Saturn V rocket.
As of 2019, KBR had over 1,000 employees supporting the JSC as well as contracts with NASA for lower-orbit work, but those contracts also include the scope for lunar missions and deep space exploration. Todd May, senior vice president of space and mission solutions for KBRwyle, said at the time that KBR researches all things related to the health and human performance of astronauts in space.
“When NASA wants to move out into the lunar region, we’re there for NASA,” May said in 2019.
