IX (Intuitive Machines, X-Energy) - Factories in Space

IX (Intuitive Machines, X-Energy)

IX, a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy.

Created: 2023-01-14

Updated: 2025-01-07

Company - IX (Intuitive Machines, X-Energy)

Founded
Country: 2022; USA

Funding: $5M+

Product/Service

Classification: Space Utilities

Category: Resources - Energy
Nuclear Fission Power

Fields: Nuclear Fission Power
Moon

Status: Development

First launch: 2028

Partners: Maxar, Boeing, X-Energy, Intuitive Machines

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working together to advance space nuclear technologies. The agencies have selected three design concept proposals for a fission surface power system design that could be ready to launch by the end of the decade for a demonstration on the Moon.

This technology would benefit future exploration under the Artemis umbrella. The contracts, to be awarded through the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, are each valued at approximately $5 million. The contracts fund the development of initial design concepts for a 40-kilowatt class fission power system planned to last at least 10 years in the lunar environment.

The Department of Energy and NASA awarded IX, a joint venture between Intuitive Machines and X-energy, a contract to conduct a one-year study to mature the design of a Fission Surface Power (FSP) solution that will deliver at least 40 kWe power flight system to the Moon by 2028.

Air Force Research Lab awards design contracts for nuclear powered spacecraft, 2023-10-03.

Intuitive Machines, a startup based in Houston that specializes in space infrastructure, received a $9.4 million contract to design a spacecraft concept that employs compact radioisotope power system, electric or hybrid propulsion.

Nuclear power on the moon: NASA wraps up 1st phase of ambitious reactor project, 2024-02-02.

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