Intuitive Machines has secured a contract worth more than $600 million to supply three geostationary communications satellites for an undisclosed customer.
The agreement was completed in June, with delivery of the spacecraft scheduled over the next 30 months. Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, said demand for the company's IM 1300 satellite platform remains high.
The spacecraft will be built on the IM 1300 geostationary satellite bus, a platform Intuitive Machines acquired when it bought Lanteris Space Systems from Maxar Space Systems in late 2025. Geostationary satellites orbit at an altitude of approximately 35,786 kilometres, matching the rotation of Earth to stay positioned over a fixed point on the equator.
Altemus did not reveal the buyer and did not confirm whether the contract is linked to efforts to clear a portion of the C-band radio spectrum for terrestrial networks.
Clearing 160 MHz of the upper satellite C-band spectrum is expected to require a substantial number of new spacecraft. Satellite operators Eutelsat, SES and Telesat are set to receive more than $6 billion for freeing up the bandwidth, requiring existing communications services to shift to remaining C-band frequencies or other radio bands.
SES, the largest user of the cleared spectrum, previously announced plans to launch seven hybrid C/Ku-band satellites and told the Federal Communications Commission in June that satellite and launch negotiations were underway. Intuitive Machines has not disclosed whether its new contract is part of that spectrum transition.
Defense and commercial satellite backlog
Beyond the three new IM 1300 satellites, Intuitive Machines holds orders for more than 70 smaller IM 300 satellites, which are also produced at the former Lanteris manufacturing facilities. Those orders include 18 spacecraft for the United States Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3 program, placed on August 4 through prime contractor L3Harris Technologies.
In total, Intuitive Machines holds contracts for more than 80 spacecraft, including IM 300 and IM 1300 satellites, lunar landing craft and specialized orbital platforms.
Accelerated lunar communications network
The company is also accelerating the deployment of its proprietary five-satellite lunar communications constellation. The first satellite, Altus-1, is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2027 alongside the IM-3 lunar lander aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The remaining four lunar satellites were originally planned to launch as secondary rideshare payloads on subsequent lunar missions. Intuitive Machines now intends to launch all four on a dedicated mission in 2028.
Altemus said the dedicated flight will complete the constellation earlier than the original plan, which would have delayed full deployment until 2029 or 2030 under rideshare arrangements. The earlier timeline will allow the network to support lunar surface landing missions for NASA's Artemis program, with Intuitive Machines offering pay-per-use communications services to NASA and commercial customers.
