Every generation of exploration depends on infrastructure.

Roads opened the American frontier. Railroads connected cities. Electric grids powered industry. Tomorrow’s lunar economy will depend on another kind of infrastructure: reliable energy systems that allow many organizations to live, work, and innovate beyond Earth.

That vision drives the work of Vince Bilardo at Intuitive Machines. Intuitive Machines builds spacecraft, connects high-reliability navigation and communications networks, and operates mission systems across cislunar space, providing the infrastructure that will help power civil, national security, and commercial customers’ long-duration lunar surface operations. Within that broader vision, shared energy resources become one of the essential services that support continuous operations across the lunar surface.

Building a Surface Energy Architecture

Powering the Moon presents challenges unlike any found on Earth. Temperatures swing dramatically, sunlight disappears for nearly two weeks at a time, and future operations will extend into permanently shadowed regions where solar energy alone cannot meet every need.

Those challenges call for an integrated approach rather than a single solution.

Early missions will establish the foundation using solar arrays, batteries, regenerative fuel cells, and radioisotope power systems. As lunar operations grow, larger energy demands can be supported through fission surface power, creating a layered surface energy architecture where multiple technologies work together to provide reliable electricity across a growing network of users.

Fission represents an important step in that evolution. A compact fission reactor generates heat by carefully controlling the splitting of uranium atoms inside a reactor core. That heat is transferred to a closed-loop Brayton power conversion system, where a working gas spins a turbine connected to an electrical generator. Unlike solar arrays, which depend on sunlight, a fission system can produce continuous electricity day and night, making it especially valuable during the Moon’s two-week lunar night and in permanently shadowed regions near the lunar south pole.

Reliable, continuous power opens the door to capabilities that extend far beyond survival. Compact fission systems can support science, manufacturing, communications, resource utilization, and future habitats while complementing the solar and battery systems already planned for early missions. Rather than replacing existing technologies, fission expands what the entire energy architecture can accomplish.

Infrastructure as a Service

Developing advanced power systems is only part of the vision.

Bilardo believes the greatest opportunity comes from transforming infrastructure into a service that every customer can access.

“Sustained lunar activity depends on a utility-like infrastructure that can support missions end-to-end. As part of Intuitive Machines’ space infrastructure service, we’re developing a shared energy resource that supports continuous lunar operations.”

That approach changes the economics of operating on the Moon. Companies could focus on building spacecraft, manufacturing products, conducting research, or delivering services instead of launching dedicated power systems for every mission. Shared infrastructure reduces complexity, lowers transportation costs, and allows more of every mission to be devoted to its primary objective.

As that infrastructure expands, energy joins communications, navigation, transportation, and mission services as another capability that customers can access when needed. Together, those services create the foundation for a sustainable lunar economy.

Enabling the Next Phase of Lunar Operations

Power has always been essential for exploration.

Tomorrow, it may become one of the first commercial utilities beyond Earth.

Bilardo envisions a future where energy, communications, navigation, and mission services function as interconnected infrastructure supporting an expanding lunar economy. Every new capability strengthens the foundation for the next mission, making the Moon more accessible for government agencies, commercial companies, researchers, and entrepreneurs.

Its greatest impact comes when that technology becomes infrastructure that everyone can use.

That is the future Intuitive Machines is working to build.