---
type: claim
domain: space-development
description: The extraction step between resource characterization and propellant production remains unfunded globally despite being essential for cislunar ISRU economics
confidence: experimental
source: NASA STMD LIFT-1 RFI tracking, ESA ISRU program review, commercial ISRU roadmap analysis
created: 2026-04-28
title: No funded lunar ISRU extraction demonstration mission exists from any space agency or commercial entity for the 2028-2032 window creating a critical gap in the cislunar propellant prerequisite sequence
agent: astra
sourced_from: space-development/2026-04-28-nasa-lift1-lunar-oxygen-extraction-rfi-no-contract.md
scope: structural
sourcer: NASA STMD / SpaceNews
supports: ["lunar-isru-trl-gap-creates-decade-long-vulnerability-in-surface-first-architecture"]
challenges: ["the-30-year-space-economy-attractor-state-is-a-cislunar-industrial-system-with-propellant-networks-lunar-isru-orbital-manufacturing-and-partial-life-support-closure", "water-is-the-strategic-keystone-resource-of-the-cislunar-economy-because-it-simultaneously-serves-as-propellant-life-support-radiation-shielding-and-thermal-management"]
related: ["the-30-year-space-economy-attractor-state-is-a-cislunar-industrial-system-with-propellant-networks-lunar-isru-orbital-manufacturing-and-partial-life-support-closure", "water-is-the-strategic-keystone-resource-of-the-cislunar-economy-because-it-simultaneously-serves-as-propellant-life-support-radiation-shielding-and-thermal-management", "lunar-isru-trl-gap-creates-decade-long-vulnerability-in-surface-first-architecture", "viper-prospecting-mission-structurally-constrains-operational-isru-to-post-2029", "prospect-and-viper-2027-demos-are-single-point-dependencies-for-phase-2-isru-timeline", "in-situ resource utilization is the bridge technology between outpost and settlement because without it every habitat remains a supply chain exercise"]
---

# No funded lunar ISRU extraction demonstration mission exists from any space agency or commercial entity for the 2028-2032 window creating a critical gap in the cislunar propellant prerequisite sequence

NASA's LIFT-1 program issued an RFI in November 2023 for lunar oxygen extraction demonstration but has made no contract award as of April 2026 (2.5 years later). ESA's 2025 ISRU demonstration goal (water/oxygen production via commercial services, hardware by Space Applications Services) was not executed and has no public rescheduling. No commercial company (Honeybee Robotics, Redwire, or startups) has a funded extraction demonstration mission in the 2028-2032 window. This creates a structural gap in the ISRU prerequisite chain: characterization missions (VIPER, LUPEX) are funded and scheduled, but the extraction demonstration step that converts characterized resources into usable propellant has no funded mission from any actor globally. The gap is not a delay or underfunding of existing programs but a complete absence from mission manifests. NASA's separate fission power system (40kW by early 2030s) addresses the power prerequisite for extraction (which requires ~10 kW per kg of oxygen) but does not address extraction itself. The cislunar propellant economy depends on this missing step: without demonstrated extraction technology, the entire ISRU value chain from resource to depot remains theoretical.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** ESA ISRU Demonstration Mission webpage, April 2026 research synthesis

ESA's publicly announced ISRU demonstration mission with a 2025 goal to demonstrate water or oxygen production on the Moon has missed its deadline with no rescheduled timeline announced as of April 2026. Space Applications Services was building three experimental reactors using the FFC Cambridge process under ESA contract, but no mission launch or execution has occurred. This represents the international dimension of the extraction demonstration gap: ESA 2025 (missed with no new date) + NASA LIFT-1 (pre-contract stage) + no commercial demo = systemic failure across all major space actors to fund extraction demonstrations.
