Intuitive Machines, Inc. Q4 FY2024 Earnings Call

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Intuitive Machines' Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Stephen Zhang, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Welcome to the Intuitive Machines' fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call. Chief Executive Officer, Steve Altemus; and Chief Financial Officer, Pete McGrath are leading the call today. Before we begin, please note that some of the information discussed during today's call will consist of forward-looking statements, setting forth our current expectations with respect to the future of our business, the economy and other events. The company's actual results could differ materially from those indicated in any forward-looking statements due to many factors. These factors are described under forward-looking statements in the company's earnings press release and the company's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements. We also expect to discuss certain financial measures and information that are non-GAAP measures as defined in the applicable SEC rules and regulations. Reconciliations to the company's GAAP measures are included in the earnings release filed on Form 8-K. Finally, we posted an earnings call presentation on our website which provides additional context on our operational and financial performance. You can find this presentation on our Investor Relations page at www.intuitivemachines.com/investors. Now, I'll turn the call over to Steve Altemus.

Good morning and thanks for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call. Just two years ago we became a public company with a bold vision for the future. Over the past year, we've deliberately positioned ourselves for long-term success by expanding our technical capabilities, opening new revenue streams and fortifying our financial position. In the fourth quarter, we reported revenue of $54.7 million, contributing to a record fiscal year revenue of $228 million. This exceeded the midpoint of our previous guidance range and is a reflection of our ability to execute and grow within the lunar commercialization sector. Our financial position remains robust. We ended 2024 with a record cash balance of $207.6 million following a successful equity raise in December. As of March 10th, our cash balance stood at $385 million after recent warrant exercises. This strong liquidity position ensures that Intuitive Machines is well-funded for the future. Now with a fortress-like balance sheet, we're seeking the highest return opportunities, whether that's through internal innovation or strategic acquisitions. We got to this point because we chose to tackle one of the hardest challenges first, landing on the moon. Now, the technologies and expertise that built our initial lunar program are ready to expand our reach into new markets and new customers. This year is not just about growth, it's about defining the future of our company and the industry itself. The fourth quarter welcomed a new administration that is revamping the whole of government, and NASA is not excluded from that. There's been a shift in how the federal government approaches the acquisition of technology-based business services, and we believe Intuitive Machines is well-positioned for this. The new administration has signaled a strong emphasis on stretching the federal dollar by shifting from large government-owned cost-plus development programs to commercial service models that leverage private sector innovation and demand service providers thrive in a fixed-price ecosystem with revenue service tails, similar to the environment Intuitive Machines has grown up in with CLPS, with LTV, and the Near Space Network contracts. The federal government changes and uncertainty at NASA is an opportunity for Intuitive Machines to expand our customer base into areas like National Security Space and broaden our service footprint, in addition to lunar, further diversifying our role in the space economy. We're in a position to do this because we're operating an end-to-end lunar program with regular KDP submissions. The infrastructure, expertise and proven capabilities required for lunar missions inherently support a wide range of space operations. Offering our validated technologies and capabilities is a natural progression into other markets. These technologies and capabilities form the foundation of our three pillars of commercialization. They are delivery services, data transmission services, and infrastructure as a service. What we've demonstrated from operating two lunar missions is that there are essential capabilities necessary for sustained and resilient operations across all three service pillars. The first is extensible and reliable space communications. This secure and continuous connectivity is essential for transmitting data, coordinating missions and making real-time decisions in-flight and on the surface of any celestial body. The second is positioning, navigation and timing, also known as PNT. Just as GPS enables seamless navigation on Earth, precise and repeatable navigation is required to support flight, orbit and landing operations, surface mobility and resource utilization. The final capability is autonomy and artificial intelligence. Given the distance and complexity of space operations, autonomy and AI-powered systems play a critical role in managing assets, executing scientific objectives and mission success. The IM-2 mission demonstrated significant advancements in all three capabilities, but to be straightforward, spaceflight is a complex endeavor. For every mission we must accept a degree of risk and the possibility of subsystem faults. And that picture isn't always black-and-white. On one hand, our lunar lander Athena touched down inside a shallow crater of the moon's south pole, a place we believe holds frozen water trapped beneath the surface. Previous missions avoided the area because of jagged terrain, deep craters and brutal cold. While Athena's landing didn't go quite as planned, our teams accelerated payload operations including operating NASA's PRIME-1 drill suite, Nokia's Lunar Surface Communication System, Intuitive Machines' Micro Nova Hopper, and several commercial payloads, including a Japanese micro-rover and an edge computing data center to bring back valuable data capturing the majority of the outstanding $15.8 million of final success payments. As a reminder, 90% of the NASA and commercial payments and associated revenue is earned and paid before launch. On the other hand, from the moment Athena launched on February 26th, every mission step to landing validated Intuitive Machines' ability to provide reliable space communications and navigation using our data transmission network. Through the reliability of our network, we executed autonomous precision main engine firings on the way to the moon using our proprietary propulsion system, conducted precision orbital maneuvers, used AI-powered systems to guide our spacecraft across 39 lunar orbits and performed high bandwidth data transmission that outpaced IM-1's capabilities by five times, all of this while demonstrating our network is interoperable with NASA's Deep Space Network and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Network, a requirement for national security space. The function of our spacecraft for the entire mission was nearly flawless and its contribution towards advancing our data transmission network directly supports our execution of NASA's $4.8 billion Near Space Network Services contract and the company's position as a utility provider for space data transmission, similar to the way telecommunications companies bill customers on the amount of data they use. Surface delivery missions like IM-1 and IM-2 provide the baseline for proving technology that leads to opening the space economy. For IM-2, in every space exploration mission, engineers conduct a critical post-flight review of the mission's performance; we call this a hot wash. Over the next several weeks Intuitive Machines will lead internal, external and independent reviews. We invited NASA, the European Space Agency and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory experts to participate. Intuitive Machines expects to keep its third lunar mission on track for this time next year, incorporating findings and corrective actions from these reviews. The mission includes NASA and commercial payload delivery near the moon's equator, a generally flat terrain called Reiner Gamma. One of the mission's primary objectives is researching magnetic anomalies using rover technology. In addition to the mission surface delivery, IM-3 will also deploy the first of five planned data relay satellites under the Near Space Network contract. The data relay satellite is deployed as a rideshare from the second stage of the rocket, independent of the lander. We demonstrated satellite deployment on our last mission with three rideshare payloads, including two that utilized our data transmission network for communication and navigation services. The first data relay satellite deployment opens additional Near Space Network contract task orders beyond the initial validation task orders of $150 million for the contract, introducing a pay-by-the-minute service model, which we expect to have higher margin and recurring revenue streams. In December, Intuitive Machines secured additional awards under the contract for direct-to-Earth services. We believe the additional awards position the company to capitalize on the full $4.8 billion maximum potential value. We intend to deliver the second and third data relay satellites as rideshare payloads along with our fourth NASA-contracted surface delivery mission IM-4 in 2027, followed by the final two satellite deployments approximately one year later to complete the constellation. As I said at the top of the call, the new White House administration is instituting a more modern acquisition strategy for how to procure technology services. We believe that benefits Intuitive Machines and we're in a position to expand our customer base and apply those services in addition to lunar space, without accepting excessive work. As we move into 2025, we're focused on diversification of customers and markets, and we've already made progress. Expanding data transmission services for our lunar satellite constellation outside the Near Space Network contract needed authorization to work with other government agencies, and the company now has those permissions. To capitalize on that opportunity, Intuitive Machines appointed James Frelk as Senior Vice President of Data Services in the first quarter of this year. Jim has more than 30 years of experience in national security, commercial satellites, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and other critical programs in government and commercial industry. Our lunar lander performance in getting to and operating in orbit was exceptional during IM-2, and we're actively leveraging that capability, finalizing a Phase 2 contract with a government customer for an orbital transfer vehicle. The contract is designed to advance in-space mobility and logistics using the same lunar lander core technology in this orbit delivery vehicle. Last year, NASA proposed cancellation of the on-orbit servicing assembly and manufacturing project, OSAM. We're now capitalizing on NASA's traditional contract investment to develop low earth orbit programs. But right now we're conducting a Space Force study on how to commercialize OSAM for geostationary orbit, a new playing field for Intuitive Machines. We believe this co-investment model is the kind of forward-thinking approach the new administration is encouraging in its acquisition strategy. Finally, financially, we remain strong with growing revenue, expanding margins and a record cash balance. 2025 is about execution. The company expects two NASA commercial lunar payload services contract bids this year, the first is due in May with an anticipated contract award in July, followed by an additional task order later in the year. In addition, Intuitive Machines has been invited to speak to the House of Representatives on our vision for the next version of CLPS, to include larger cargo class lunar deliveries, potentially creating high margin opportunities. Our vision for heavy cargo class landers applies directly to our Lunar Terrain Vehicle delivery service, which we anticipate will be awarded in the second half of 2025. That concludes my comments. Now I will hand off to Pete McGrath, our CFO, for further comments on our financials. Pete?

Thank you, Steve, and thanks to everybody joining us today. As Steve mentioned, we ended the year strong with Q4 revenues of $54.7 million, up 79% over the same quarter of the prior year and finished with record highs in both cash and backlog. Q4 revenue was primarily driven by CLPS, OMES and LTVS execution. OMES revenue was $30 million in the quarter, down about $4 million from Q3 as expected. Keep in mind, as Steve mentioned, we are performing a study to commercialize the use of OSAM for the Space Force. Gross profit was $0.7 million for the quarter versus $0.3 million in the prior year as we drive consistently towards profitability. Operating loss for the quarter was $13.4 million versus a loss of $7.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The higher operating loss in the quarter was driven primarily by higher SG&A. SG&A for the quarter was $13.5 million versus $6.4 million in the prior year. A higher SG&A was due to increases in public company costs, employee compensation and benefits, and rent on our corporate headquarters, as well as our new offices in Maryland and Phoenix. Prior year also included the impact of incentive compensation accrual reversal as we looked to preserve cash. Current SG&A cost represents our estimated steady state of business going forward. Operating cash used was $2 million in the quarter with capital expenditures of $4.9 million, resulting in a free cash outflow in the quarter of $6.9 million. As we mentioned on the last earnings call, favorable operating cash in Q4 included the timing impact of two significant receivables, specifically timing on OMES, and the IM-4 milestone one payment. CapEx in the quarter was driven primarily by the investments in our first Near Space Network satellite. Going forward, we expect to see CapEx for our five-satellite constellation around the moon in support of NSN. These CapEx levels will be offset by higher margin service revenues from the NSN program. Our cash balance significantly increased in Q4 to $207.6 million, another company record. This increase was driven by $116.9 million of cash raised in the quarter, which included a $10 million strategic investment from Boryung Corporation, and the remaining from our follow-on equity offering. Note that more recently, in Q1 2025, we cleaned up the majority of our overhangs since de-SPAC mainly through the redemption process of our $11.50 strike price warrants. The majority of our warrants were exercised at $11.50 each, resulting in $148 million of cash to the company. 6.6 million warrants were unexercised and exchanged for $0.01 each. We currently have no outstanding $11.50 public issued warrants. As of March 18th, we had 178.3 million shares outstanding following the warrant redemption process, with 115.7 million shares of Class A and 62.6 million shares of Class C. The exercise of warrants along with diligent cash management to start the year resulted in a cash balance of $385 million as of March 10th of 2025. To further fortify our liquidity position, while in a position of strength as a company, we opened a $40 million credit facility with favorable financial terms. This facility remains unused and is meant to smooth out our working capital ups and downs as we work through the timing impact of milestone payments for our programs and our respective cost schedule. We ended the fourth quarter with contracted backlog of $328.3 million, another record for the company. We expect to recognize 60% to 65% of our backlog during 2025, 15% to 20% during 2026, and the remaining thereafter. Keep in mind, this does not yet include the full set of initial task orders for the Near Space Network Services contract totaling $150 million or any new awards we may receive throughout the year. Moving on to guidance. Last year our revenue was $228 million and for 2025 we see a range of $250 million to $300 million. The expected growth of our key programs is expected to more than offset the impact of OSAM, which was roughly 40% to 50% of the OMES revenue in 2024. This represents a tremendous shift in our business mix as we focus on expanding revenues into higher margin services. On the profitability side, we are continuing to demonstrate improvement in margins with a focus on having a positive run-rate adjusted EBITDA by fourth quarter of 2025 and a positive adjusted EBITDA by 2026. Overall, this was another strong quarter and a historic year for Intuitive Machines. Last year, we set aggressive but reasonable guidance targets. We're proud to have exceeded the midpoint of the range. We effectively managed cash and set the company up with a fortress balance sheet, a streamlined capital structure with a substantially reduced overhang from derivative securities and no outstanding debt. We look forward to continuing this growth trajectory in 2025 with a focus on driving towards profitability and achieving our financial targets. With that, operator, we are now ready for questions.

Thank you. Our first question coming from the line of Suji DeSilva with ROTH Capital. Your line is now open.

Hi, Steve. Hi, Pete. Good morning. So maybe you can talk first about the funding and the balance sheet being stronger and strategic moves beyond NASA and cislunar expanding, reach new markets and customers. Steve, maybe you can give a framework of sort of where you could see Intuitive Machines headed three to five years out that would kind of paint a picture of what you might be thinking of beyond what you've done to date?

Yes. Good morning, Suji. Thanks for the question. Yes, when we think about the company, we're really moving into this data services business as a core business because what we see is the lunar data network that we're installing with the data relay satellites and the ground stations is really, I would deem, a national asset, and that asset can be used by many different customers. It also gives us the capability for alternate forms of GPS. It gives us the ability to communicate in difficult locations around the moon, but those services can obviously be brought back towards Earth. So you see us expanding in the Near Space Network regime at multilayer domains in space from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit out to cislunar space. We're just doing it in reverse order from lunar space backwards. So that's what you can look for over the next three to five years.

Okay. And then maybe you could touch on specifically the orbital transfer vehicle, the spacecraft there and you said there's a government contract there. Maybe you can talk about that product line and how we should think about that?

Yes. The Nebula, as we call it, is a derivative of the Nova-C science autonomous robotic lander that we flew to the moon twice. And so it's a cryogenic stage, essentially a third stage, if you will, with our proprietary propulsion system. And we can deliver satellites, multiple satellites to varying locations in space around cislunar space. That's of interest to some customers and we're doing that under a commercial contract as a subcontractor for a government customer.

Okay. Great, Steve. And then last question and I'll pass it along. As you talk about 2026 adjusted EBITDA positive, maybe you could talk about two elements of that guidance in terms of the long-term growth rate, the revenues that would be a reasonable set of bands to think about? And then the operating expense growth expectation to kind of get to that 2026 guide?

Yes. So I probably won't provide guidance on what our growth rate is going forward beyond 2025. If you look at where we were in terms of our run-rate and our G&A expense, we've stabilized around a good G&A spend rate, which is going to really help us as we continue to grow on the profits and the margin side towards that EBITDA positive case.

Okay. Appreciate the color, Pete. Thanks, guys.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Mike Crawford with B. Riley Securities. Your line is now open.

Thank you. Regarding the Lunar Terrain Vehicle, down select which you said you still expect to occur in 2H 2025. Is there anything from that baked into the current guidance?

Mike, the way we look at that one is that will affect 2026 primarily and not necessarily 2025 with that award coming so late in the year, we believe. There are alternatives that the government may consider in terms of how they award; they may choose multiple bidders, down select to two, take two to CDR or give the full demonstration to a single bidder. I'm not quite sure what the shape of that procurement will look like, but we did not include any of the LTV beyond the initial $30 million in the operating plan for 2025.

Okay. Thank you. And then regarding the data relay satellite deployments. Is there an order to the range points that you're targeting for the second and third payloads and beyond?

So just to clarify, you're looking for the timeline for deployment of the satellites?

Yes. And does it matter to which location each goes to in order?

Long answer. Our current baseline plan is that the first satellite will go up as a rideshare on IM-3, which is scheduled for about this time next year. Then the second and third will go off as a rideshare on IM-4, which we're currently slating for the second half of 2027. The fourth and fifth would go up about a year after that. They're all going to a highly elliptical polar orbit around the moon that will have a long stare time around the South Pole, which is the requirement for NASA in terms of coverage over the South Pole region.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Austin Moeller with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is now open.

Hi. Good morning. So just my first question. Has the data collected during IM-2 impacted your conversations with NASA or plans for the upsized Nova-D lander? And has NASA decided if they will pay a vendor to deliver the VIPER rover yet?

With respect to Nova-D, we're currently in the design cycle to get to preliminary design review for the demonstration mission for LTV delivery. So Nova-D continues on. We are doing the hot wash associated with IM-2 and the faults we saw in the laser altimeters and we're doing a complete system review. I don't expect much change to the way the design is going for Nova-D coming out of that hot wash. And like I said in my comments, Austin, we'll actually look at any effects to IM-3 other than the laser rangefinders that might be incorporated into that mission this time next year. Your other part of your question was VIPER. Right now, NASA put out an RFP to industry to say after they looked at all of the RFIs that were submitted, put in a proposal; they'll do a down select once they see all those proposals. We expect that down select here shortly, probably by the end of the month. They'll do a down select from those that meet the competitive range. I'm not sure what we're going to do with VIPER yet. The way that came out is that it has to be fully funded by the government, and NASA retains all the data. So it's quite limited in our ability to commercialize it. We're still thinking about what we want to do there.

Okay. And if we just think a little bit further out, the new administration has said they have Mars as a priority. So has the new administrator discussed with you or the other CLPS participants an equivalent program for doing commercial landers on Mars, given the cost overruns on Mars Sample Return?

We've been talking for about two years now with the agency and the administrators and deputy administrators about using the CLPS model to replace the aging infrastructure around Mars. That conversation has been well-received so far. We have not had discussions yet about how that might play in this administration or with this new administrator once confirmed. We plan to have those discussions and see what that might be. I would say though that it is clear to us from our discussions on the Hill with everybody we meet with that the moon is of strategic interest and will remain that way. The idea of Mars-first or Mars-only is really not the mainstream thinking at this time. Mainstream thinking is that a stretch goal for Mars is a good thing for the country, while the moon is of strategic interest and will remain so.

Thanks for all the details there. I'll pass it back. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is now open.

Hey, everyone. Good morning. Congratulations on the quarter and thanks for taking our question. I was just wondering if maybe you could elaborate a little bit further on some of the data that you were able to procure from the IM-2 mission, maybe particularly on the Nokia side. Just curious if you could tell us how that communication worked out versus expected? Thank you.

Yes, good morning, Andres. Nokia Bell Labs had fully successful payload operations on the moon, where they tested out each element of their cellular network with us. Even though we were off to the side, Nokia was able to power up and communicate with each part of that network, demonstrating that earth-based technology hardened for space was successful. This is a good news story in terms of how you can take that technology all the way to TRL 9 and now we have the basis for surface communications between elements on the moon. So a rousing success for Nokia Bell Labs.

Very helpful, appreciate that color. And maybe just as a quick follow-up. Steve, you touched on this a little bit on the call, but maybe just remind us, what are the key catalysts, maybe the near-term key catalysts that you think investors should be aware of as we look for in 2025? Thank you.

Yes. So right now the team is getting ready for the Nova-D design cycle review with NASA on that delivery vehicle, the heavy cargo variant for delivery of the LTV, and we'll also do a preliminary design review with NASA in the first half of this year on the Lunar Terrain Vehicle itself. Then you'll have the next CLPS procurement in May, proposals are due with award in July. And finally, there's a third project or contract, that's the second CLPS award this year, which we expect later in the year. Those are the big contract award milestones while we prepare our first satellite for launch on IM-3 this time next year. That satellite will be delivered for integration to us for our payload integration this year and ready to fly early next year.

Super helpful. Thank you so much and congrats again. I'll pass it on.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Edison Yu with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. First, I wanted to ask about the cash. You're obviously in a very good position now after the recent raises. How are we thinking about deploying that? Do you have a pipeline of M&A that might be of interest?

We have a continuing process of review for opportunistic M&A where we evaluate what capabilities as a company we want to add on, where we have soft spots in the supply chain, for example, or where we want to vertically integrate. We also want to think about markets and opening up a new customer and diversifying our revenue stream. We'll be strategic in our assessment of M&A going forward. There's also a number of technology innovations that we want to on-ramp, in particular for the Nova-D, to make sure that the propulsion system is developed in a way that can support the heavier cargo landers. For example, investment in an e-pump project to put electric pumps on the main engine will be a good project we've already started. So there'll be some of those innovations we'll be doing with the capital and some of the strategic M&A we're thinking about will continue.

Understood. And then a follow-up, you mentioned the new administration earlier. I'm wondering if you can talk about the potential opportunities in defense in the context of some of these big programs. Is there a lot of incremental TAM that could be derived from some type of DoD or national security pathway?

The way I talk about defense tech is really national security space tech. As we're building out our network, the Near Space Network Services, there's a lot of space domain awareness and space traffic management capability by having assets in and around the moon that we can move into that market. We have the architecture and IP associated with flying those kinds of data relay satellites with the radio packages and sensors. All that can be applied to the national security space market.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Ronald Epstein with Bank of America. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning, guys. I mean so far we've covered a lot of ground, but just wanted to circle back on what's your thinking on the impact that the Department of Government Efficiency could have on NASA, what it could mean for you guys? And Musk seems to be a big influence here and he keeps talking about Mars. How do we circle that all up and what's it mean for you?

I think the Department of Government Efficiency is looking to drive efficiency within NASA, in particular, and the monies that are recaptured or saved can be applied to commercial space endeavors that could be more efficient. Intuitive Machines is in a position now where we can navigate this kind of commercial market. We're driving innovation in a rapid, affordable way to deliver space systems reliably. That is attractive for this modern approach to NASA. While there might be reformulations within Artemis or changes within the civil servant workforce of NASA, driving efficiency and delivering space systems on a regular cadence is good for our global competitiveness. Mars-first is further away; as an architect, I can tell you it's more than a presidential administration away. So while a stretch goal to build technologies for Mars is reasonable, the moon is of strategic interest and will remain our focus. Many of our technologies are extensible to deeper space and we will look at opportunities to replace some of the aging infrastructure around Mars if that's the direction the country wants to go.

If they did push toward Mars or push in parallel, that could be beneficial given it's a bigger hurdle and would require more funding. Is that a fair way to think about it?

With constrained budgets, that's one of the factors the House and Senate will deal with when funding future space programs. If efficiency efforts move Artemis to the right, what's important is that the Near Space Network is decoupled from Artemis in the budget and gets implemented so we have a strategic asset in and around the moon. If Mars Sample Return is revamped to be more affordable, that might create more opportunity to put infrastructure replacements in orbit around Mars. All of this speaks to the need for agile commercial space involvement in opening the cislunar economy and contributing to commercialization of Mars.

And then maybe just the last one. If we're in a continuing resolution for fiscal 2025, and possibly fiscal 2026 could be a continuing resolution, how does that impact you? What does a CR or two years of a CR mean for your business?

Our company is currently working on existing programs that are covered under continuing resolution and those programs would continue under a CR. I did mention I'm going to testify before the House Subcommittee to talk about CLPS 2.0 and the move toward heavier cargo deliveries. Right now, CLPS is funded, NSNS is funded, and LTV is funded. So our programs with NASA appear to be in a good position.

Got you. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Josh Sullivan with the Benchmark Company. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning.

Good morning, Josh.

Just on the comment earlier on the move into data services. Can you talk maybe about Jim's appointment? How are you modeling that long-term communications revenue model at this point? What is his role or perspective?

Jim Frelk was brought on because he has incredible experience in bringing data services to market, having worked at companies like DigitalGlobe and Maxar, and at Lockheed and in NASA. He has depth in data services, national security space, and government connections. When we think about the Near Space Network, we think about data services. We also run the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and ShadowCam with a group in Phoenix, and we steward a large repository of lunar data for NASA. Integrating the data products collected by LRO with our own data products allows us to get serious data content out of this network. Jim is the one who knows how to commercialize that and he brings experience in national security space where we can build this network as a national asset to serve other government agencies as well. That's his forte and why we brought him on board.

Got it. And then, Steve, on your plans to speak to Congress on CLPS, what needs to be communicated at that event or maybe what does Congress need to be convinced of that it's not already inclined to pursue with CLPS-like models?

The message is the success of lunar commercialization and where we're going in terms of communications, space traffic management, developing infrastructure and factories on the moon is essential for strategic interests. For CLPS 2.0, moving toward heavier cargo deliveries sets up logistics to get equipment to begin building factories on the moon and work autonomously. Emphasizing heavier cargo and spreading that delivery across multiple directors within NASA—science, human spaceflight, space technology—helps serve a broader set of objectives. That's what we want to communicate to the House about CLPS 2.0.

Got it. Thank you for the time.

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Greg Pendy with Clear Street. Your line is now open.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Just I know you're going through the hot wash right now, but from the targeted mission for IM-3 with the Reiner Gamma region of the moon, what type of flexibility would you have on that region to possibly push the date out further if you felt you needed at that time? What does the launch window look like for that region of the moon? Thanks.

We have quite a bit of flexibility if needed. Right now we're not anticipating a shift in the schedule. Should an unexpected shift occur, we have several months of schedule margin to still meet that equatorial mission to Reiner Gamma. It's not as highly constrained as the South Pole missions are. This can extend into the first and second quarter easily.

Right. And then just one more. On IM-3, what type of timeline would you think you'd need for commissioning on that first satellite before you can get the follow-on task revenue opportunity?

We think you get that bird up in its polar orbit and we have about a 60 to 90 day commissioning period before we do a communications check, data relay check with an asset in orbit. That check is a validation task order and then we can start the follow-on operational task order.

Great. That's helpful. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Our last question in queue coming from the line of Erik Rasmussen with Stifel. Your line is now open.

Yes, thanks for taking the questions. You guys gave an outlook for 2025 of $250 million to $300 million in revenue. Any insights that maybe you can share that gets you to this range? And then maybe just how should we think about the shape of that growth throughout the year?

If you look at the backlog numbers and the percentages I talked about earlier, a lot of our revenue to get to the bottom of the range is from existing contracts and work we have in front of us. Because those are on contract, they're going to be recognized throughout the year, so that's a pretty steady rate of revenue. What we're looking to grow with are the things Steve mentioned earlier about the opportunities we have in front of us this year, which include two CLPS opportunities. There is potential upside depending on market and congressional direction as to funding and NASA direction as to where programs are going. Things like where LTVS could actually be awarded this year and there could be revenue this year—we are not putting that in our plan today, but that gives us some upside. So that allows us to fit within the range.

Great. Maybe just— I know the hot wash review is ongoing and there's still a lot of work to be done, but any sort of initial observations that you can share? Coming out of IM-1, there were around 60 items addressed before IM-2. Would you expect that list to be similar, greater, or less? Any initial thoughts would be helpful.

The hot wash is set up and it's our process drawn from human spaceflight programs. We take a 30-day period, a focused timeframe, and examine every aspect of development, testing, assembly integration and functional testing of the vehicle, payload integration at the Cape, how the launch and mission unfolded, and payload operations on the surface. We identify what went wrong and what went right and where there were soft spots to shore up to increase reliability. Findings get binned into categories: those that need to be implemented for the next immediate mission and those that can be carried as fleet upgrades. Our internal review meeting is on April 3rd where we'll hear findings from across subsystems and we'll probably finalize around April 15th. From there we'll share the lessons learned with stakeholders and our NASA partners. We have external reviewers from NASA, ESA and JPL as subject-matter experts and we're looking forward to their findings because it makes us better and stronger.

Great. Thanks for that. Good luck.

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Intuitive Machines CEO, Mr. Steve Altemus for any closing remarks.

Well, thank you, everybody, for your participation and your questions and we're looking forward to another exciting year of growth for Intuitive Machines in 2025. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.