As private companies plan increasing activity in commercial spaceflight and on the surface of the moon, two Houston companies have partnered to make it easier to get assets into space.
Intuitive Machines Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR) and Seops LLC agreed to a partnership that will see Seops join future Intuitive Machines missions, expanding Sepos' potential destinations for customers beyond low-Earth orbit, or LEO.
An Intuitive Machines spokesperson told the Houston Business Journal that Seops would join a mission beyond IM-3, the company’s planned third mission. Intuitive Machines made history earlier this year by landing its Houston-built Nova-C lander Odysseus on the surface of the moon as part of IM-1.
“Intuitive Machines' rideshare services have enabled another Houston company to create an entire orbital delivery business based on Intuitive Machines' rideshare service,” Intuitive Machines said in a statement.
Rideshare in a space-business context refers to using a single launch vehicle to bring multiple payloads, such as satellites or other operating assets, into space, according to NASA.
Intuitive Machines also said it is accepting commercial business for a new mission that could be IM-4.
Seops provides space mission services and has historically operated in the LEO space. But CEO Chad Brinkley said in an Aug. 5 press release that the partnership would allow the company to reach destinations like geostationary transfer orbit — an intermediate orbit that satellites use as a stepping stone to their final orbit — and the moon’s surface.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in interest from both our government and commercial customers in lunar missions,” Brinkley said. “Intuitive Machines’ rideshare capacity not only satisfies a growing market need, but it’s completely in our wheelhouse — leveraging our expertise in solving complex launch challenges for our customers. It makes financial sense to take advantage of the excess capacity on Intuitive Machines’ lunar missions, while also supporting our customers’ goals for lunar exploration.”
Smaller payloads will be attached to Seops' spacecraft, which will in turn be carried by the future Intuitive Machines mission, according to the statement from the latter company. In addition to its own lunar lander, Intuitive Machines has 1000 kilograms of payload available for customers.
The new partnership is unrelated to a contract that Seops won from the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command on July 31, the company confirmed to the HBJ. That contract, which includes technology demonstrations for several satellites, will support the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program for military operations in space.
Seops’ Houston office is in the Heights at 2233 Yale St. The company was acquired in 2019 by Austin-based Hypergiant. A spokesperson for Seops told the HBJ that the Hypergiant deal was an equity partnership but that it has since dissolved.
Intuitive Machines said that its IM-2 mission, which is fully sold out, will be targeting a launch window between November 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. That mission will carry the lunar lander Athena, or Attie, to mine for water ice on the moon’s south pole.
Meanwhile, the upcoming IM-3’s exact landing site has not been finalized, and the company said it is “converging on agreements” with several more commercial customers. All of Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft to date have been built at its $40 million Lunar Production and Operations Center at the Houston Spaceport, which opened last September.
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