BusinessLunar

Intuitive Machines Closes $30M KinetX Acquisition

Intuitive Machines' IM-2 Athena lander. Image: Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Athena lander. Image: Intuitive Machines

KinetX has joined the Intuitive Machines family after years of working alongside it.

Yesterday, Intuitive Machines ($LUNR) announced that its $30M acquisition of KinetX, a space infrastructure company with experience in constellation management, is complete. The companies first announced the deal in August.

The $30M acquisition was structured like this:

  • $15M was paid in cash.
  • The balance was made up by ~1.4M shares of $LUNR common stock.

IM is planning to use KinetX’s expertise to connect its lunar and deep space infrastructure. The company specifically called out its value in data relay for lunar and deep-space missions.

“By uniting deep-space navigation and data services, we’re giving customers the confidence to securely operate across the solar system with precision and autonomy,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said in a release.

Get connected: Intuitive Machines’ goal is to own an entire cislunar architecture, from the lunar surface to operations in deep space. In addition to its headline-making lunar lander missions (of which the second and most recent ended up on its side), the company is developing an orbital transfer vehicle, a reentry vehicle, and low-power nuclear propulsion systems.

KinetX, on the other hand, has spent the last 30 years developing its space infrastructure business. It has worked on NASA missions—including IM’s two CLPS lunar landings—as well as constellation management with the US military and commercial customers. In 2024, the company generated $9.8M in revenue.

Market check: $LUNR stock saw a brief ~6% increase yesterday morning, but by day’s end had leveled out to roughly the same as market open.

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