The award of a NASA contract worth up to $4.82 billion has cemented Intuitive Machines Inc.’s position as a key partner in the space agency’s ambitious plans for lunar exploration, according to analyst firm Benchmark.

NASA wants to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, but right now, astronauts have to be in direct line of sight with Earth to phone home. The space agency is looking to change that with its developing Near Space Network,

NASA awarded Intuitive Machines a long-term contract potentially worth $4.82 billion to develop, launch, and operate a five-satellite communications and navigation network around the moon.

Intuitive Machines is “the leading beneficiary of NASA’s lunar commercialization efforts,” says B. Riley Securities analyst Mike Crawford.

Shares of Intuitive Machines blasted off nearly 60% Wednesday, a day after the space travel support firm received a NASA contract worth up to $4.82 billion.

Intuitive Machines has won a NASA contract worth up to $4.8 billion to provide communications and navigation services at the moon to support Artemis.

To establish a permanent base on the Moon and explore its surface, NASA needs a 21st century communications infrastructure. It chose a small Houston, Texas-based commercial space company to do the job.

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ: LUNR) is a space exploration company at the forefront of lunar exploration. Intuitive Machines’ stock price is soaring to new heights following the recent award of a NASA contract for communication and navigation services for missions in the near-space region.