Lunar water, step by step
Using water from the Moon would take a chain of steps. This page summarizes selected records: what the cited results show, what the examples propose and what they leave unestablished. New event announcements are not automatically incorporated into these conclusions.
In short
A real achievement
Water was detected at the Moon. LCROSS observed it in an impact plume at Cabeus crater in 2009.
A proposed capability
A plant on the Moon that makes fuel from lunar water. JGC Holdings describes one producing liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Starpath describes water extraction, electrolysis and oxygen liquefaction. Their recorded work is on Earth.
A missing step
Taking ice out of the ground on the Moon. The results cited on this page do not document it or establish the later steps using water from the Moon.
Step 1 of 5
Find it
Is water there, in what form, and how much?
Water has been detected. The results cited on this page do not document polar ice measured on site.
Shown
LCROSSAt the Moon
In October 2009 a spent rocket stage struck the permanently shadowed floor of Cabeus crater. NASA announced that water was detected, and a 2010 paper estimated 5.6 ± 2.9% water ice by mass at the impact site. That is one impact site, not a map of deposits.
Source: NASA (NSSDC archive), 2009-11-13 · Science (PubMed abstract via NCBI E-utilities), 2010-10-22 · See Cabeus crater in 3D
Chandrayaan-1At the Moon
NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, on India's orbiter, recorded features attributed to hydroxyl and/or water on the lunar surface.
Source: Science (PubMed abstract via NCBI E-utilities), 2009-09-24
Tried, no result
PRIME-1 spectrometerAt the Moon
Its spectrometer recorded gases on IM-2 in March 2025. NASA says initial data suggested those gases came from the lander and Earth, and it reports no detection of lunar water.
Source: NASA, 2025-04-29 · Mons Mouton on the 3D Moon
Puli Lunar Water SnooperAt the Moon
Puli says this neutron spectrometer returned data from the lunar surface on IM-2. Its cited record reports no published results as of October 2026.
Source: Mission Space and Puli Space Technologies (PR Newswire release, syndicated by American Press), 2026-07-22 · Mons Mouton on the 3D Moon
Lunar FlashlightIn flight
This NASA CubeSat was meant to seek surface ice but could not produce enough thrust to reach lunar orbit. NASA ended the mission in May 2023.
Lunar TrailblazerIn flight
This NASA orbiter was designed to map water on the Moon's surface. Contact was lost the day after its February 2025 launch.
Proposed or funded
A NASA ice-prospecting rover built for a 100-day mission. Delivery on a second Blue Moon MK1 lander targets late 2027, but NASA decides on that option after Blue Origin's first MK1 flight.
Source: NASA, 2025-09-19
A planned JAXA and ISRO mission to obtain ground-truth data on the quantity, form and distribution of polar water. JAXA lists launch no earlier than 2028.
Source: JAXA Space Exploration Center
An ESA-funded rover mission, with ispace-EUROPE as prime, carrying a drill with a volatile analyzer, a neutron spectrometer and radar. Launch is planned for 2029.
Source: ispace EUROPE S.A., 2026-07-24
A Chinese south-pole mission designed to survey water ice. It could not launch in its planned 2026 window, and the cited CNSA statement gives no replacement date.
Source: CGTN (Xinhua), 2026-08-23
Still missing
The results cited here do not establish a measurement of polar ice made on site. The cited examples reach the Detected step, not Prospected. How the steps work.
The results cited here do not establish how much water there is, in what form and how it is spread. A detection is not a measured, usable deposit.
Compare a detection, an attempt and a plan · Every water-ice record on the 3D Moon · Permanent shadow at the south pole, on the 3D Moon
Step 2 of 5
Get it out of the ground
Can ice-bearing soil be dug up, or its water heated out, on the Moon?
Lunar soil has been collected on the Moon. The results cited on this page do not document ice being collected or extracted there.
Shown
Lunar PlanetVac, on Blue Ghost Mission 1On the Moon
In March 2025 it collected, transferred and sorted lunar soil with pressurized gas in Mare Crisium. This was a sample-collection demonstration, not resource extraction or processing.
Source: NASA Flight Opportunities · How PlanetVac works, in 3D · Mons Latreille on the 3D Moon
Chang'e-5On the Moon
It returned about 1,731 grams of surface and drilled samples in December 2020, from near Mons Ruemker rather than the polar regions. Later laboratory work estimated how much water the samples could yield. That is an estimate, not water extracted on the Moon.
Source: CNSA, 2020-12-19 · The Innovation (via PubMed Central), 2024-08-22 · Mons Rümker on the 3D Moon
LUWEXOn Earth
This European research project extracted water from icy lunar simulant in a laboratory. Its reported average recovery rates, 2.06–7.76 g/h, are laboratory figures, not commercial production rates.
Source: Advances in Space Research
Starpath excavation roverOn Earth
NASA reports the rover placed second overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge finale in 2024 and was tested in a NASA thermal vacuum chamber in 2025. These are Earth-based tests only.
Source: NASA, 2025-09-26
Tried, no result
TRIDENT drill, on PRIME-1On the Moon
NASA reports the drill's auger, full extension, percussion and core heater were exercised, on a lander that had come down on its side. NASA does not report a drilled regolith sample.
Source: NASA, 2025-04-29 · How TRIDENT works, in 3D · Mons Mouton on the 3D Moon
Proposed or funded
A NASA Phase II contract covers continuous auger-based water-vapor extraction from icy lunar regolith. The cited award does not establish a completed extraction test.
NASA funded a 2024 Phase II for excavating icy regolith while limiting water loss. Its reported work is Earth-based.
A May 2025 agreement with ispace covers feasibility and possible future rover deployment. It establishes neither a booked flight nor a completed extraction.
Source: ispace, 2025-05-09
Still missing
The lunar collection results cited above are soil, not ice. They do not document ice taken out of the ground on the Moon or a sample from a permanently shadowed area.
Step 3 of 5
Clean it
Can raw water from lunar soil be made clean enough to use?
Purification has been tested on Earth. The results cited on this page do not document water from the Moon being purified.
Shown
LUWEXOn Earth
Final project reporting says the laboratory chain of extraction, purification and water-quality monitoring reached technology readiness level 4 under Moon-like conditions. Deionized water was added before purification, so that stream is not a neat extracted-water yield.
Source: European Commission (CORDIS)
Aqualunar ChallengeOn Earth
A UK–Canada prize for technologies to purify water from ice in lunar soil. Naicker Scientific's SonoChem System won the UK first prize in March 2025, and Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation won Canada's grand prize for LunaPure in April 2026. Entrants built prototypes on Earth, and no source describes flight hardware.
Source: UK Space Agency (GOV.UK), 2025-03-27 · Canadian Space Agency, 2026-04-15
Proposed or funded
Kurita Water Industries, with ispace
A March 2025 agreement covers carrying a Kurita water-processing test device on an ispace mission after 2027. A December 2025 partnership adds business models, payload development and demonstration planning. These are agreements, not test results.
Paragon describes ICICLE as a freeze-distillation cold trap for water collection and coarse purification. This is a company description, and the captured sources establish no flight.
Sources are on the record.
Still missing
The results cited here do not document water from the Moon purified anywhere.
Step 4 of 5
Split it
Can water be turned into hydrogen and oxygen on the Moon?
Electrolysis equipment has flown to the Moon, but its lander failed to land. It never ran on the surface.
Shown
StarpathCompany statement
Starpath states it produced 48 grams of gaseous oxygen from icy regolith simulant in November 2025. This is a company claim on Earth, with no independent report.
Sources are on the record.
Tried, no result
Takasago electrolyzer, on RESILIENCEIn flight
Its water-electrolysis equipment flew on ispace's RESILIENCE lander in 2025. The failed landing prevented the planned surface demonstration. The experiment's ultra-pure water came from Earth, not the Moon.
Source: ispace, 2025-05-09 · ispace, 2025-10-06 · Mare Frigoris, its lander's target, on the 3D Moon
Proposed or funded
Paragon says IHOP combines water purification and electrolysis for lunar water processing. The captured sources establish no completed water or oxygen production beyond Earth.
Sources are on the record.
Still missing
Hydrogen and oxygen made from water on the Moon. On the record above, production on the lunar surface was not demonstrated.
Step 5 of 5
Store and use it
Can what is made be kept, moved and put to use?
The results cited on this page do not document storing or using water, hydrogen or oxygen made on the Moon. The examples below are proposals.
Shown
No demonstrated result in the examples cited here.
Proposed or funded
It says a plant would extract water from lunar regolith and produce liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel. Its recorded work is Earth-based, and it cites a JAXA draft plan to start building a lunar demonstration plant in the 2030s.
It says it will build a Starmine plant for water extraction, electrolysis and oxygen liquefaction to refuel landers. The cited Starpath record identifies no published lunar mission, lander or date.
Sources are on the record.
A NASA Phase I contract describes a system for making high-test peroxide, a monopropellant, from lunar water and oxygen. The cited abstract proposes a bench-scale prototype without establishing a completed test.
Source: NASA
Still missing
The results cited here do not establish storage on the Moon of water, hydrogen or oxygen made there.
The results cited here do not document a commercial delivery of a lunar resource to a user. The status answer.
The results cited here do not establish all the steps working together. Separate results from different groups, some on Earth and some on the Moon, do not add up to a demonstrated system.
How to read this page
The five steps are this site's plain summary of selected records, not an engineering design or any organization's plan. The organizations named here are not necessarily working together. Each statement restates the record it links to, and that record carries the sources, check date and open questions.
Lunar water guide · Compare any two or three records · Lunar south pole missions · 3D Moon · Has anyone delivered a resource?