Starting in the fall, Intuitive Machines will build a 125,000-square-foot facility on a 12.5-acre parcel in the spaceport, just south of the Houston Aerospace Support Center, Houston officials announced June 10. The facility will take two years to construct.
Intuitive Machines has a presence in the HASC, which also hosts the EDGE Center, where San Jacinto College students learn and train for aerospace-related jobs. By expanding, Intuitive Machines will have its own space with room for more operations and employees.
In its facility, Intuitive Machines will have office, production, assembly and test space. It will have an advanced loading dock, tiered storage and office tenant space for U.S. Department of Defense units, among other amenities, officials said.
Intuitive Machines started in 2013 with 12 employees. Today, it has 120, and this expansion will bring the total employees up to 250, officials said.
Under the agreement, which has yet to be approved, the city of Houston will pay up to $40 million for the facility to be built. The city will recover its investment through a 20-year lease agreement, officials said.
Houston City Council will vote on the agreement at its June 16 meeting.
Intuitive Machines is in the process of building a lunar lander that will go to the moon in January 2022, potentially making the company the first commercial presence on the moon. The lander will gather data in advance of humans visiting the lunar surface for the first time since the 1970s.
In mid-May, officials announced Collins Aerospace would be developing a facility at the spaceport. A groundbreaking ceremony was held June 7.
In December, officials announced Axiom Space would build a 430,000-square-foot facility at the spaceport as well.
Additionally, officials have said the EDGE Center will eventually have a larger presence at the spaceport as the Advanced EDGE Training Center.
There are three remaining parcels ready for development in Phase 1 of the spaceport that are 17.3, 2.34 and 5.77 acres.
