Mining water and oxygen on the Moon

How far are we from mining water, oxygen or propellant on the Moon?

Water has been detected from orbit near the Moon's south pole, and oxygen has been extracted from simulated lunar soil in a vacuum chamber on Earth. In the sources reviewed, no lunar material has yet been mined or processed on the Moon, and no drilled sample has been analysed there. NASA's 2025 PRIME-1 drill did not reach the surface after its lander came to rest on its side. NASA's architecture page gives no dates for lunar resource extraction.

AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.
WHERE WE AREEngineering prototypes

Getting closer. Prototypes exist, but not in real-world use.

Oxygen has been produced from simulated lunar soil in a vacuum chamber at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, using the LR-1 reactor supplied by Lunar Resources Inc., so the process has been built and run as engineering hardware. Water has been detected remotely, not extracted. No lunar resource has been mined or processed on the Moon, and no pilot plant exists, so the stage is engineering prototype rather than pilot. The Mars oxygen experiment MOXIE produced oxygen on Mars, which shows a related process working in a different environment, but MOXIE is an analogue and does not test lunar soil.

The tech tree

Everything recorded on Vrulum that this future needs, oldest foundations at the top and the goal at the bottom. Lines show what each step requires.

What it takes: Mining water and oxygen on the Moon Unlocked Being researched Locked
  1. 2017Asteroid miningResearch and prototypes Being researched.
  1. 2014In-space manufacturingResearch and prototypesRequires: Asteroid mining. Being researched.
  1. 1964Reusable launch vehiclesPilot and early commercialRequires: In-space manufacturing. Unlocked.
  1. 2009Lunar resource extractionLab demonstration Being researched.
  2. 2024Commercial lunar landersPilot and early commercialRequires: Reusable launch vehicles. Unlocked.
  1. 2009Water detected from orbit near the lunar polesDone Unlocked.
  2. 2025Robotic lander reaches the lunar south poleDone Unlocked.
  3. 2025Drilled regolith from depth analysed on the MoonNot started Locked.
  4. 2025Oxygen and metals from simulated lunar soil in an Earth vacuum testDone Unlocked.
  5. 2026Full-scale lunar resource plant in NASA's architectureNot started Locked.
  6. 2026Water ice measured on the ground in cold trapsNot started Locked.
  7. Date not recordedOxygen made from lunar regolith on the MoonNot started Locked.
  1. GoalMining water and oxygen on the MoonGoalRequires: Lunar resource extraction, Commercial lunar landers, Water detected from orbit near the lunar poles, Oxygen and metals from simulated lunar soil in an Earth vacuum test, Robotic lander reaches the lunar south pole, Drilled regolith from depth analysed on the Moon, Water ice measured on the ground in cold traps, Oxygen made from lunar regolith on the Moon, Full-scale lunar resource plant in NASA's architecture. Locked.

The road so far

3 of 7 steps done.

  1. Done · 2009Water detected from orbit near the lunar poles

    The M3 instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft reported water molecules in the Moon's polar regions in 2009, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On 9 October 2009 the LCROSS mission impacted the Cabeus crater at the lunar south pole. NASA said on 13 November 2009 that the data indicated water near the Moon's south pole. These are remote detections. The sources reviewed do not give an amount of water, a depth or a usable concentration. [5][4]

  2. Done · 5 May 2025Oxygen and metals from simulated lunar soil in an Earth vacuum test

    In a 2025 test at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, about 25 kg of simulated lunar soil was heated to about 1,700 °C in a vacuum chamber. NASA reports that molecular oxygen and metals were produced. The soil was a simulant, not real lunar regolith. NASA says post-test data analysis will help its teams better understand the reactor's thermal and chemical function. The test was run with Lunar Resources Inc., which supplied the LR-1 reactor. [1][8]

  3. Done · 6 Mar 2025Robotic lander reaches the lunar south pole

    The Athena lander, which carried the PRIME-1 experiment, landed in the Mons Mouton region near the south pole on 6 March 2025, according to NASA's Planetary Data System record. NASA's mission page says the lander is on its side, about 820 feet from the intended landing site. [3][2]

  4. Not started · 6 Mar 2025Drilled regolith from depth analysed on the Moon

    PRIME-1's TRIDENT drill was designed to extract soil up to about three feet below the surface, and the MSOLO mass spectrometer was to analyse the sample for water and other components. The lander came to rest roughly horizontal, and the Planetary Data System record says this prevented the drill from reaching the lunar surface. No drilled lunar sample has been analysed on the Moon in the sources reviewed. [3][2]

  5. Not started · 30 Sept 2026Water ice measured on the ground in cold traps

    NASA's DISCO payload, announced on 30 September 2026, is intended to make the first direct, on-the-ground measurements of ice in lunar micro-cold traps, and to estimate how much ice is present. NASA says the payloads will fly to the lunar surface using its CLPS commercial lander initiative as part of the Moon Base Program. The release gives no landing date. [9]

  6. Not startedOxygen made from lunar regolith on the Moon

    NASA's lunar surface technology page reports no oxygen, water or propellant produced on the Moon. Its oxygen work described on that page is Earth-based and uses simulants, and it presents extracting water and oxygen as goals. No date is given for a lunar oxygen demonstration. [8][1]

  7. Not started · 25 Mar 2026Full-scale lunar resource plant in NASA's architecture

    NASA's Moon to Mars architecture lists In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Systems as one of 12 sub-architectures, defined as systems that extract resources in space or on the Moon or Mars to generate products. The architecture page gives no ISRU-specific dates and does not mention a lunar ISRU demonstration. Its last update was 25 March 2026. [7]

Why it matters

Water and oxygen made on the Moon would cut the mass that has to be launched from Earth for life support and rocket propellant, and would allow longer stays. Separating what has been shown on the Moon from what has only been shown on Earth or in orbit helps readers judge progress without taking laboratory results for supply.

What stands in the way

  • Water has been detected from orbit, but its amount, depth and distribution at sites that could be mined have not been measured on the ground.
  • Landing geometry and surface access must work before a drill can reach regolith, as the 2025 PRIME-1 attempt showed.
  • Oxygen extraction has been shown with simulant in a vacuum chamber on Earth. Real lunar regolith may behave differently, and NASA says post-test analysis is still needed.
  • Extraction, heating, separation and storage of water or oxygen must work together on the surface, and they have not been tested as one chain on the Moon.
  • Power for excavation and processing in lunar conditions is needed, and no lunar resource plant has yet shown it.

Signals to watch

  • A drill reaching the surface and returning a sample from depth on a future lunar landing.
  • Results from DISCO, which aims to measure ice in lunar micro-cold traps on the ground.
  • An oxygen reactor delivered to the Moon and run on real lunar regolith.
  • A dated NASA milestone for a lunar resource demonstration, in place of target dates for landers.
  • Results from CLPS landings at the south pole that report the amount of water or oxygen produced, rather than detection alone.

Sources

  1. government report
    NASA Kennedy Breathes Life into Moon Soil Testing
    NASA, 5 May 2025.
  2. government report
    Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1)
    NASA, 11 Mar 2025.
  3. dataset
    CLPS Task Order PRIME-1 Athena Lander (NASA Planetary Data System context record)
    NASA Planetary Data System, Jul 2026.
  4. government report
    LCROSS
    NASA Science, 3 Nov 2024.
  5. government report
    Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)
    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2009.
  6. government report
    NASA's Oxygen-Generating Experiment MOXIE Completes Mars Mission
    NASA, 6 Sept 2023.
  7. government report
    Moon to Mars Architecture - Components
    NASA, 25 Mar 2026.
  8. government report
    Lunar Surface Technology
    NASA, 20 Oct 2026.
  9. news
    NASA Adds New Science Investigations for Moon Base
    NASA, 30 Sept 2026.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.