© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Nova-C lunar lander designed by aerospace company Intuitive Machines is displayed at the company’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, U.S., October 3, 2023. REUTERS/Evan Garcia/File Photo
By Akash Sriram
(Reuters) -Shares of Intuitive Machines were down 15% on Tuesday after the space exploration company said its Odysseus moon lander has roughly 10 to 20 hours of battery life left.
The stock briefly pared losses, following the latest update from the spacecraft’s flight controllers, but is set to lose nearly all the gains since Thursday, when the lander made the first U.S. touchdown on the lunar surface in more than half a century and the first ever by the private sector.
The company had said on Monday its lunar mission could end ahead of schedule after a sideways touchdown hindered communications and solar charging capability. The stock fell 35% on Monday, its worst drop in about a year.
“The reaction to the stock … that’s a bit of an overreaction by the market,” said Cantor Fitzgerald senior analyst Andres Sheppard, as Intuitive has collected more than 95% of their target revenue of $130 million from the mission.
Only about 18% of Intuitive Machines’ outstanding shares are available to trade, according to LSEG data, making the stock that went public last year prone to high levels of volatility.
Intuitive had on Friday said Odysseus, which is carrying payloads for its main customer NASA, would have enough power to operate for nine to 10 days under a “best-case scenario”.
It is not clear yet as to how much scientific data might be lost due to the shortened length of the mission.
Some analysts said they see no impact of the issues faced over the past few days on the company’s next two missions and payloads scheduled later this year.
Intuitive has plans to use a Nova C lander, the same class as Odysseus for further missions set for later this year and early next year.
