LUWEX consortium (Horizon Europe project 101081937)
Consortium of the EU-funded Horizon Europe research project LUWEX (grant 101081937, 1 November 2022 to 31 December 2024), coordinated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which aimed to develop, integrate and validate lunar water extraction and purification technologies for producing propellant and consumables in situ. Its six members were DLR, Liquifer Systems Group, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Scanway, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology and Thales Alenia Space Italia. The project planned a laboratory test setup that uses a lunar dust-ice simulant to bring the extraction, purification and water-quality monitoring chain to technology readiness level 4. CORDIS lists the project as closed, with deliverables including the assembled experiment hardware and a report documenting all experiments, and publications such as 'Experimental Demonstration of Lunar Water Extraction and Purification'. The work was Earth-based laboratory work. Final project reporting states that the integrated laboratory chain achieved TRL 4; a later journal paper reports water-recovery results from icy simulants, not lunar production.
An organization's level is recorded separately and is not a ranking of its linked missions' results. How the ladder works.
Resources and evidence
Each resource shows the highest step primary sources support. How the ladder works.
| Resource | Evidence | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Water ice | Claimed | says it will |
Demonstrated
CORDIS final reporting states that the process chain achieved TRL 4 under relevant Moon-like conditions. The 2026 journal paper reports laboratory average water-recovery rates of 2.06–7.76 g/h. Recovery rate uses total active experiment time; these figures are not commercial production rates. The paper describes a formal TRL 4 target and conditions approaching TRL 5, not achieved TRL 5. D4.1 describes adding 0.5 L of deionized water before purification, so that stream is not a neat extracted-water yield.
Claimed or planned
The project objective was to develop an innovative water extraction prototype, water purification technologies and water quality monitoring for application in a future European-led space exploration mission, validated in an integrated test setup with a lunar dust-ice simulant; the coordinator's keywords include 'European Large Logistics Lander'.
Facts
- Headquarters
- Germany
- Type
- Consortium
- Founded
- 2022
- Status
- Concludedas of 2025-07-08. CORDIS fact sheet (last updated 8 July 2025, read 2026-10-29) marks the project closed, with an end date of 31 December 2024; the site shows a grant project as concluded once it closes; no separate statement that the partners ended their collaboration was found. Not a corporate-register check.
- Roles
- Processing / ISRU
- Targets
- Moon
- Also known as
- LUWEX; Validation of Lunar Water Extraction and Purification Technologies for In-Situ Propellant and Consumables Production
Open evidence gaps
- D4.1 and the later journal paper were read; the CORDIS brochure was not reviewed. For the same 1687 g initial-ice experiment, D4.1 gives 1084 g in a reservoir summary, 1086 g in its log and 1087 g in Table 4-1. These conflicting recovered-water figures are not selected or averaged. The added deionized water prevents treating the purified stream as an undiluted extraction yield.
- The project's own website was not checked, so website is null.
- No evidence was found of a follow-on project or of LUWEX hardware being assigned to a lander; the European Large Logistics Lander appears only as a coordinator keyword.
- Funding: CORDIS shows a total cost of about EUR 1.5 million almost entirely covered by the EU contribution, but the amounts are not recorded here because the figures could not be quoted with their labels.
Sources
22 excerpts from 5 publicationsOne web address counts as one publication.
LUWEX aims to develop, integrate and validate lunar water extraction and purification technologies for in-situ propellant and consumables production for future space exploration missions.
Start date 1 November 2022 End date 31 December 2024
Coordinated by DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUR LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV Germany
Project closed
The EU-funded LUWEX project will design and test a novel water extractor to process lunar regolith containing enough water ice to support a purification process downstream.
This setup will deliver a relatively realistic environment analogue to the lunar surface and will use a lunar dust-ice simulant to provide proper validation conditions to raise the TRL of all subsystems and the whole process chain to level 4.
The consortium will develop key technologies for an in-situ raw water process chain, which include an innovative water extraction prototype, water purification technologies and water quality monitoring for application in a future European-led space exploration mission.
Large space industry (Thales Alenia Space), research organizations (DLR), SME (Liquifer Systems Group, Scanway) and academia (Technische Universität Braunschweig, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology) from four European countries (Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland) join forces in a unique consortium to enable breakthroughs in ISRU technologies.
European Large Logistics Lander
THALES ALENIA SPACE ITALIA SPA
Final experiment hardware assembled from the subsystems of WP 3
A report documenting all experiments including materials, methods, results and interpretation of results
Experimental Demonstration of Lunar Water Extraction and Purification
One or multiple simulants (mix of water and dust particles) mimicking the conditions of water ice on the lunar surface
Total water extracted from WECS reservoir 1084 g (64,4%)
1086 g of water collected from WECS reservoir (64,4% output) as a result of test 203.1.
203 1687 1087 979 1479 1420 1150 150 120
was mixed with 0,5L of DI water
The process chain was successfully tested under relevant (moon-like) conditions and therefore achieved TRL 4
Although formally targeting TRL 4
approaching the conditions expected of TRL 5
from 2.06 g/h to up to 7.76 g/h
Cite this record
SpaceMiningData, “LUWEX consortium (Horizon Europe project 101081937)”, dataset version a00fa2c68a45, built 2026-11-11, https://spaceminingdata.com/organizations/luwex.html. Record checked 2026-10-30.