New partnership: Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines, the world leader in commercial lunar exploration, has chosen Scanway. The Polish company will explore the surface of the Silver Globe.

Scanway has entered into a partnership with US company Intuitive Machines. Under the contract signed yesterday, the Polish company will provide an optical instrument for mapping the lunar surface. The launch of the mission with Scanway’s telescope is planned for the end of 2025. This is the first commercial contract in the history of the Polish space sector in which a Polish company will provide an optical instrument for a lunar exploration mission. Intuitive Machines is a US company listed on the NASDAQ with a capitalization of approximately $1.9 billion (as of 19 December 2024).

Intuitive Machines made history in 2024 as the first private company to successfully land on the Moon. Today, the company supports lunar missions and develops the lunar economy as a commercial space service provider and major NASA contractor.

Lunar exploration is a top priority for the space sector for strategic and geopolitical reasons, with the US and China planning to return humans to the Moon by 2030. According to Euroconsult’s Prospects for Space Exploration report, the value of investment in lunar missions will increase from $11 billion in 2023 to nearly $17 billion per year in 2032.

Scanway S.A. is moving beyond the Earth Observation (EO) domain. The company aims to participate in the growing number of lunar missions over the next decade and become an important part of this prospective market and its value chain.

„The plan to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon is driving global investment in manned, observation and robotic missions that will build the orbital and transportation infrastructure. Scanway is making a historic event for the Polish space sector – next year a telescope developed and delivered by our team will fly to the Moon on a private American satellite,” – comments Jędrzej Kowalewski, CEO of Scanway S.A. „This is an important milestone for us as we complete our offer with solutions beyond the EO (Earth Observation) domain, and we once again prove our competence in advanced optical instruments. It is our offer that has been selected among the global competition. We are therefore joining forces with another leader in our field, this time in the field of lunar exploration. We want to be a key partner in the growing number of lunar missions over the next decade and become an important link in this promising market and its value chain.”, – adds Jędrzej Kowalewski.

Polish-US Lunar Exploration

The contract, received on 19 December 2024, is part of the Lunar Data Network (LDN) Intuitive Machines initiative, which supports the establishment of a comprehensive lunar infrastructure for future missions to the Moon and further space exploration. Scanway’s telescope will be used to map the Moon, including detecting minerals on its surface using optical technologies (Scanway’s optical payload will be part of the first satellite launched as part of the Lunar Data Network). The Intuitive Machines satellite, equipped with a modified version of one of the company’s telescopes currently in preparation, will fly in an elliptical orbit between 500 km and 2,800 km above the lunar surface.

Intuitive Machines is a leading US space exploration and lunar infrastructure development company. It specializes in the development of advanced lunar landers, cislunar communications systems and the development of navigation services for space missions. In February 2024, it made history as the first private organization to land on the Moon. The company’s vision is to support the commercialization of space through innovative technologies and collaboration with the private and public sectors. Intuitive Machines is developing infrastructure that will open new opportunities for lunar exploration, deep space exploration and future interplanetary missions.

The US company plays a key role in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, with three contracts to deliver payloads to the lunar surface: IM-1 (completed), IM-2 (2025) and IM-3 (2026). In September 2024, the company signed a contract worth up to $4.82 billion with NASA to provide communications and navigation services for missions in near-Earth space, covering the area from the Earth’s surface to space beyond the Moon. The company is listed on the NASDAQ, its market capitalisation is approximately $1.9 billion (as of 18 December 2024), and its share price has risen by approximately +400% since the beginning of 2024.

„Preparing a telescope for a lunar mission is a challenging technological endeavor, requiring precise compliance with environmental and functional requirements. It is an important step in adapting our products for use beyond low Earth orbit. In the case of the Intuitive Machines contract, an additional challenge is the time pressure – the instrument must be completed and shipped aboard a US satellite by the end of 2025 to begin lunar observations. By conducting a detailed requirements analysis and relating the design to more than 50 optics previously developed by Scanway with a variety of parameters and applications, we were able to shorten the R&D path. Using the experience gained from our work on atermalized reflecting telescopes, we will deliver a proprietary multispectral solution that meets the mission’s requirements.” – said Michał Zięba, CTO at Scanway S.A.

The completion of the order is expected to have a positive impact on Scanway’s financial results in 2025, with an estimated revenue of several hundred thousand USD. The cooperation with Intuitive Machines may be expanded in the future, with the potential for additional instruments to be placed on new IM satellites bound for the Moon, with the support of European and/or national institutions. Scanway S.A. has been actively supporting the development of the space economy for several years. The Company’s optical solutions have been included in the most important European and Polish space missions of 2024. The company executes some of the country’s largest contracts for space equipment (including for commercial customers) and is a consortium member in key space projects in Poland (including EagleEye and PIAST). The company placed its equipment (Scanway Camera System) on this year’s inaugural flight of Europe’s largest launch vehicle, Ariane 6.

The growing role of the lunar economy

To date, only five countries have successfully conducted a lunar landing: Russia, the United States, China, and between 2023 and 2024, India and Japan. In February 2024, Intuitive Machines made history as the first private organization to successfully land on the Moon, which also marked the return of the US to its surface after an absence of more than 50 years. The US (Artemis programme to use Elon Musk’s Starship, among others) and China (ILRS programme) have already officially declared plans for a manned lunar landing before 2030, and Russia, India and Japan are also expressing interest in the lunar direction.

According to an Euroconsult report, the value of investment in lunar missions is expected to increase from USD 11 billion in 2023 to nearly USD 17 billion by 2032. Over the next decade, the number of exploration space missions is projected to more than triple to 751, with a significant 31% share of lunar missions to be conducted by government institutions (46% of missions), commercial entities (35% of missions) and scientific and academic centers (19% of missions).

„In the current business environment, the focus has shifted from lunar exploration to the establishment of a sustainable human presence on the Moon. The key to success in this endeavor lies in the efficiency and timeliness of the efforts invested in this project. The initial phase of investment will be directed towards transport and communication services, ensuring the regular operation of missions to the Moon and facilitating navigation. Other elements include manned missions and the gradual construction of orbital infrastructure, along with further technology demonstrations, including ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilisation), which allows the extraction and use of raw materials directly on site. As on Earth, imaging technologies will play a significant role on the Moon, and Scanway will contribute to the development of this element of the lunar economy. Along with the EO (Earth Observation) domain, this will be another important component of our offering in the future.” explains Mikołaj Podgórski, COO and co-founder of Scanway S.A.

More about Intuitive Machines: https://www.intuitivemachines.com/