Intuitive Machines' Nova-C “Odysseus” lander deploys from the upper stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to begin the IM-1 mission.
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Actions of Intuitive machines jumped for the second day in a row after the company issued an update saying its lunar landing mission “is in excellent health.”
The Texas-based lunar company launched its inaugural cargo mission, known as IM-1, on a SpaceX rocket early Thursday morning. In an update Thursday evening, Intuitive wrote that the lander was powered on and its batteries were “fully charged.” The company revealed a minor issue with the spacecraft's navigation system, but said it was resolved with a software update.
Intuitive Machines shares rose as much as 30% in early trading Friday before paring gains to trade up about 16% from its previous close of $6.70 per share.
Shares rose 35% on Thursday after the successful launch of the IM-1 mission. Since the release of IM-1, Intuitive Machines shares have risen 75% from Friday's trading high.
However, the company's stock is still trading below its post-SPAC merger debut price a year ago.
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Andrew Chanin, CEO of ProcureAM, who runs the “UFO” Space-focused ETF, he emphasized to CNBC that he is “never surprised to see volatility related to a space company, especially a space-only company” and noted that Intuitive Machines, not yet profitable, is a relatively small company by market size.
“We support them. To the extent that they can demonstrate success here…hopefully that creates more confidence that this is something that is doable,” Chanin said.
The IM-1 lander, which carries both government and commercial research payloads, is expected to spend about eight days traveling to the Moon before attempting to land on February 22.
“There is a huge focus on the moon right now. Most investors don't have much, if any, space exposure at present and to the extent that US commercial businesses, [NASA]or foreign governments see success on the moon, it seems like it will only encourage other entities to also increase their focus and spending on the moon,” Chanin said.
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