2 Space Stocks You've Never Heard Of Before Just Won $439 Million to Build NASA Lunar Rovers

By now, you've heard the news: Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) has lost the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) contract, at least for now, "helping" to set the stage for a rapid-fire 33% sell-off in the space stock's shares last week. Wall Street analysts had been betting on NASA to reward Intuitive, the first space company to land on the moon since the Apollo era half a century ago, with a lunar rover contract, too.

Instead, NASA picked two lower-profile space companies to build its first two rovers: privately held Astrolab and Lunar Outpost.

Image source: Astrolab.

NASA makes its choice

As part of a wide-ranging "update on Moon Base rovers, landers, missions" last month, NASA announced that it has awarded two firm-fixed-price contracts for lunar rovers. Astrolab will receive $219 million to build its Crewed Lunar Vehicle, or CLV‑1, based on the company's Jeep Wrangler-sized "FLEX" rover design.

The 1-ton vehicle can travel at 6 mph and can carry two astronauts and/or up to 1.6 metric tons of supplies. Astronauts can drive it, or it can be operated remotely. Partners, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), Axiom Space, and Venturi Space, assisted in developing it.

NASA awarded a similar $220 million to Lunar Outpost to build a Pegasus rover -- also a modified and lighter design, this one based on Lunar Outpost's Eagle rover.

Pegasus is described as having manual, remote-control, and autonomous driving modes and can travel up to 9 mph. Lunar Outpost says Pegasus should have a lifespan of about a year and can travel roughly 560 miles before it must be replaced. To build the vehicle, Lunar Outpost enlisted a team of much better-known partners, including General Motors (NYSE: GM), Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NASDAQ: GT), and Leidos (NYSE: LDOS).

What happens next?

Both Astrolab and Lunar Outpost are expected to spend the next 18 months designing, building, and testing their rovers, implying they should be ready to go by December 2027. Assuming all goes well, they will then be loaded into Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk 1 lunar landers, carried by Blue Origin New Glenn rockets, for delivery to the moon -- with plenty of time to accompany NASA's astronauts on the 2028 Artemis IV moon landing and subsequent missions.

(Note: On May 28, a New Glenn rocket exploded during a routine engine test, destroying Blue Origin's launch pad in the process. This may push the timeline out a bit, and give Astrolab and Lunar Outpost even more time.)

And what about Intuitive Machines?

Meanwhile, the question Intuitive Machines investors want answered is simply: Is this the end? With Astrolab and Lunar Outpost having snapped up both rover contracts, does this leave Intuitive out in the cold?

The answer is: not necessarily. While Intuitive was shut out of the first $439 million in contract awards, NASA has budgeted some $4.6 billion for the LTV project, and says it will "expand opportunities for additional vendors through on‑ramp competitions ... as Moon Base efforts advance." This probably means that Intuitive Machines will have further opportunities to bid for LTV work.

Fingers crossed.

Rich Smith has positions in Intuitive Machines. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intuitive Machines, and Leidos. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.