NASA Picks Intuitive Machines/KBR JV For Engineering Support Contract

Credit: NASA

HOUSTON—NASA has awarded Space & Technology Solutions a five-year, potential $719 million contract for the support of work associated with the agency’s Joint Polar Satellite System.

Space Networks Solution, LLC, a joint venture led by Houston-based Intuitive Machines with KBR, does business as Space & Technology Solutions.

“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,” Steve Altemus, the company’s CEO, said as part of an April 18 contract announcement.

Intuitive is among the first of 14 companies designated by NASA in 2018 as a Commercial Lunar Payload Services provider, private ventures eligible to bid on the delivery of science and technology payloads to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis program to establish a sustainable human presence at the Moon to prepare for human expeditions to Mars.

Under the new contract, Space & Technology Solutions will begin activities on July 1 under a third iteration of the Omnibus Multidiscipline Engineering Services contract managed by the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Mark Carreau

Mark is based in Houston, where he has written on aerospace for more than 25 years. While at the Houston Chronicle, he was recognized by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation in 2006 for his professional contributions to the public understanding of America's space program through news reporting.