HOUSTON, Aug. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SEOPS, a leading provider of responsive space mission services and Intuitive Machines, Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR, LUNRW) (“Intuitive Machines”), a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, announced today that they have entered into a launch services agreement. Under the agreement, Intuitive Machines will provide rideshare delivery services to SEOPS as it expands its offering beyond LEO to now include multiple destinations, from geostationary transfer orbit, to the Moon’s surface and various Lagrange points between the Earth and Moon starting after 2025.
Intuitive Machines’ cadence of pioneering lunar exploration and scientific discovery missions, including its upcoming IM-2 and IM-3 missions, along with its capability to deliver commercial assets to orbit, enables commercial companies like SEOPS to provide deployment services. This establishes a new industry offering and expands SEOPS’ ability to provide integration, and deployment services to a wide range of orbital destinations.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in interest from both our government and commercial customers in lunar missions,” said Chad Brinkley, CEO of SEOPS. “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. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Intuitive Machines to extend our rideshare services to cislunar destinations and beyond.”
“The visions and missions of the space industry are more ambitious than ever,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “SEOPS entrusting us with the delivery of its customers’ payloads to space highlights our capabilities to provide the essential infrastructure and services that support all groundbreaking commercial ambitions in space.”
With extensive experience in payload integration, mission management, and deployment solutions, including in-house designed and engineered flight hardware and an orbital transfer vehicle, the SEOPS team collectively brings expertise from more than 400 satellite deployments, including for the U.S. Space Force, NRO, and NASA. Additionally, the company has managed 16 rideshare launches, including SpaceX Transporter and International Space Station cargo rendezvous missions.
About Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machines is a diversified space exploration, infrastructure, and services company focused on fundamentally disrupting lunar access economics. In 2024, Intuitive Machines became the first commercial company to land and operate on the lunar surface, validating its ability to provide the three service pillars required to commercialize a celestial body: delivery, data & communications, and autonomous operations in space. The Company empowers its customers to achieve their ambitious visions and commercial goals in space through seamless collaboration with its robust service pillars. For more information, please visit intuitivemachines.com.
About SEOPS
U.S.-owned and operated, SEOPS is a leading provider of rideshare integration and launch solutions for smallsats headed to LEO, cislunar, and beyond. The team brings years of experience and trusted relationships with launch vehicle providers, helping customers expertly execute mission campaigns for education, scientific advancement, and national security needs, including tactically responsive rideshare launch and dynamic 24/7 on-orbit operations. SEOPS’ comprehensive launch services, from capacity procurement to flexible deployment systems, orbital transfer vehicle solutions, mission design and integration services, ensure payloads get on orbit in the most seamless, cost-effective way possible. For more information or to book your next launch, visit seops.space.
