Latest news with #lunarlander
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lunar Ambitions Grow: Intuitive Machines Secures Expansion to Build the Next Generation of Space Infrastructure
Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR) is one of the best space stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On July 16, 2025, the Houston City Council approved a strategic lease amendment for Intuitive Machines, adding 3 acres and extending its lease at the Houston Spaceport by 5 years to enable a $12 million expansion. The project includes new production and testing facilities, plus support infrastructure, to scale lunar lander assembly, Earth‑reentry systems, Lunar Terrain Vehicle development, and NASA's Near Space Network Services. A huge in-process machining center producing parts for aircraft and aerospace systems. Intuitive Machines, headquartered in Houston, is a commercial space infrastructure firm behind the Nova‑C lunar lander series (Odysseus, Athena), spacecraft cargo systems, in-space communication services, and emerging work in lunar mobility and re-entry platforms under NASA and DoD contracts. While we acknowledge the potential of LUNR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lunar Ambitions Grow: Intuitive Machines Secures Expansion to Build the Next Generation of Space Infrastructure
Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR) is one of the best space stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On July 16, 2025, the Houston City Council approved a strategic lease amendment for Intuitive Machines, adding 3 acres and extending its lease at the Houston Spaceport by 5 years to enable a $12 million expansion. The project includes new production and testing facilities, plus support infrastructure, to scale lunar lander assembly, Earth‑reentry systems, Lunar Terrain Vehicle development, and NASA's Near Space Network Services. A huge in-process machining center producing parts for aircraft and aerospace systems. Intuitive Machines, headquartered in Houston, is a commercial space infrastructure firm behind the Nova‑C lunar lander series (Odysseus, Athena), spacecraft cargo systems, in-space communication services, and emerging work in lunar mobility and re-entry platforms under NASA and DoD contracts. While we acknowledge the potential of LUNR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Intuitive Machines (LUNR) Jumps 13.15% as Lunar Mission Photos Boost Investor Confidence
Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR) is one of the . Intuitive Machines saw its share prices jump by 13.15 percent on Thursday to close at $11.36 apiece following the release of photos captured by its IM-2 lunar lander called 'Athena.' Having encountered uncertainties during its official launch in February 2025, the photos sparked investor confidence about Intuitive Machines Inc.'s (NASDAQ:LUNR) successful deployment and operations and improved confidence for future contracts. Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR) launched the IM-2 Athena using its Nova-C aircraft on February 27 as part of NASA's commercial lunar payload services. Athena successfully reached the surface of the moon on March 6, 2025, but ended its mission the day after, following depleted power. A satellite being released from a launch vehicle, heading into space. Athena was designed to look into the presence of lunar water ice using Prime-1, a payload of a drill and mass spectrometer. While we acknowledge the potential of LUNR as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA spots Japan's doomed 'Resilience' moon lander from orbit — and it's surrounded by far-flung debris
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Moon-orbiting spacecraft belonging to NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have both snapped photos of Japan's ruined lunar lander Resilience, following its catastrophic "hard landing" earlier this month. Some of the images — the first to visually confirm the spacecraft's fate — show pieces of debris scattered across the surrounding area. The Resilience lunar lander, made and operated by the Japanese company ispace, was scheduled to land in the Mare Frigoris, or "Sea of Cold," region of the moon's northern hemisphere on June 5. The lander was carrying a range of scientific experiments, as well as Europe's first ever lunar rover, named Tenacious, which was set to deploy an art piece known as "the Moonhouse" on the lunar surface. However, operators lost contact with Resilience around 100 seconds before its scheduled touchdown. It then experienced a "hard landing" that likely tore the spacecraft apart and led to the loss of all of its payloads. On June 11, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) snapped the first satellite photos of the ruined lander. By comparing the new images with photos taken before the crash (see above), it's clear that the impact left behind a dark smudge on the lunar surface. The mark is likely regolith (the layer of dust and rock that blankets the lunar bedrock) that was displaced by the impact, according to the LRO website. On June 16, ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter snapped additional photos of the crash site, showing the area in much greater detail (see below). Subsequent analysis of the photos revealed pieces of debris scattered around the crash site. Astronomy enthusiast Shanmuga Subramanian identified at least 12 different pieces of debris and shared images of them on the social platform X. However, there was no indication as to how far apart these pieces were. Related: 'Everything has changed since Apollo': Why landing on the moon is still incredibly difficult Telemetry data from Resilience's final moments suggest the lander's laser rangefinder experienced delays while measuring the probe's distance to the lunar surface, Live Science's sister site previously reported. "As a result, the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently to reach the required speed for the planned lunar landing," ispace officials wrote at the time. In a news conference on Tuesday (June 24), ispace finally confirmed that the laser rangefinder was at fault. Resilience was the second of ispace's Hakuto-R landers to attempt to land on the moon. Its predecessor also likely crash-landed in April 2023, after the company lost contact with it in lunar orbit. However, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's SLIM lander (or "moon sniper") did successfully touch down on the moon in January 2024 and remained operational for several months, despite accidentally landing upside down. The last few years have seen a sharp rise in the number of spacecraft attempting to land on the moon. U.S. companies have already attempted two lunar landings this year: First, on March 2, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost successfully touched down on the moon; and second, on March 7, Intuitive Machine's IM-2 probe landed on its side and died 12 hours later. RELATED STORIES —China has launched a secret robot to the far side of the moon, new Chang'e 6 photos reveal —NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the 'dark side' of the moon. Here's why. —Spacecraft films 'diamond ring' solar eclipse from the surface of the moon as 'blood moon' looms over Earth In February 2024, Intuitive Machine's Odysseus lander became the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years, but also ended up on its side. In August 2023, ISRO successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 — India's first-ever lunar lander — near the moon's south pole. This spacecraft later detected the first "moonquake" in decades before shutting down after 12 days. China's Chang'e 6 lander successfully touched down on the moon's far side in June 2024 and has since returned lunar samples to Earth.
South China Morning Post
24-06-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Japan firm blames faulty space laser for doomed moon mission
A laser navigating tool doomed a Japanese company's lunar lander earlier this month, causing it to crash into the moon Advertisement Officials for ispace announced the news from Tokyo on Tuesday. The crash landing was the second for ispace in two years. This time, the company's lander named Resilience was aiming for the moon's far north in Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold. Nasa 's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter relayed pictures of the crash site last week where Resilience and its mini rover ended up as wreckage. An annotated image provided by Nasa shows the impact site for ispace's Resilience lunar lander on June 11. Photo: Nasa/Goddard/Arizona State University/AP Company officials blamed the accident on the lander's laser rangefinder, saying it did not properly measure the spacecraft's distance to the lunar surface. Resilience was descending at a rapid rate of 138 feet (42 metres) per second when contact was lost and crashed within seconds, they said. Bad software caused ispace's first lunar lander to slam into the moon in 2023. Like the latest try, the problem occurred during the final phase of descent. Of seven moon landing attempts by private outfits in recent years, only one can claim total success: Firefly Aerospace's touchdown of its Blue Ghost lander in March . Blue Ghost launched with Resilience in January, sharing a SpaceX rocket ride from Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience lunar landers, lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in January. Photo: AFP
