Intuitive Machines reported $269.3 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2026, up from $52.4 million a year earlier, in results released November 12. The space company generated $66 million in operating cash flow and spent $33 million on capital equipment, producing $33 million in free cash flow.
The quarter ended September 30 with approximately $1.87 billion in backlog. The company reported a $3.4 million net loss and a $34.2 million operating loss.
The backlog grew through acquisitions and new awards. Lanteris added $612.8 million and Goonhilly added $31.7 million; new awards contributed approximately $1.77 billion over the first nine months. Recognized revenue and contract scope changes reduced the total. The reductions included changes to the Power and Propulsion Element contract and an IM-4 rideshare arrangement.
A large part of the change in the business followed the January acquisition of Lanteris, formerly Maxar Space Systems. Intuitive Machines completed that purchase for $800 million before closing adjustments, comprising $450 million in cash and $350 million in stock. The transaction added an established spacecraft manufacturer to a company already developing lunar delivery and communications services.
Lanteris builds spacecraft for commercial, civil, and national security customers. Its satellites support activities including Earth observation, missile warning and tracking, and surveillance. Those products give Intuitive Machines a manufacturing business serving customers in Earth orbit as well as its work around the Moon.
The acquisition also changed the composition of reported revenue. The company’s financial filings include Lanteris operations from January 13, 2026. Comparing 2026 with the preceding year involves a larger group of businesses. Satellite production now contributes alongside mission services, engineering work, and communications activities.
Revenue, backlog, and cash flow describe different parts of that activity. Revenue records work recognized during the reporting period. Backlog records contracted work that remains to be recognized. Operating cash flow records cash generated or consumed by operations, and free cash flow deducts capital expenditure. A spacecraft contract can affect these measures at different times as manufacturing advances and customer payments are received.
The communications business includes services for NASA’s Near Space Network. NASA selected Intuitive Machines for direct-to-Earth work covering geostationary-to-cislunar distances and regions beyond the Moon, in addition to lunar relay services. Direct-to-Earth links connect spacecraft to ground antennas; relays pass signals through another spacecraft before they reach Earth.
NASA purchases those services through task orders under its network contracts. The agency’s December 2024 announcement identified additional communications capacity for lunar missions and for spacecraft with unusual, highly elliptical orbits. This purchasing model connects commercial ground stations and relay systems with the operating requirements of individual NASA missions.
Lunar transportation remains another part of the company’s activity. Intuitive Machines is among the providers selected for NASA’s CLPS 2 framework, through which companies compete for delivery assignments. A framework selection establishes eligibility for subsequent work; specific delivery orders define the mission and contracted service.
Intuitive Machines maintained its forecast for 2026 revenue of $920 million to $950 million and positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Its reported mission schedule places IM-3 and the Altus-1 communications satellite in a March–April 2027 launch period.
