India's lunar missions are mapping the building blocks of future colonies

Space · Published 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: From discovering water molecules to identifying sulfur in the lunar south pole, India's space program is providing the chemical blueprint for human habitation. These findings aren't just academic; they identify the specific resources—like water for fuel and sulfur for batteries—that could make long-term lunar residency possible.

India's first deep space mission, Chandrayaan-1, launched on October 22, 2008, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. A primary objective of this mission was to orbit the Moon and study its chemical and mineralogical composition. A landmark result of this mission was the discovery of water molecules locked in lunar minerals. This was achieved using a suite of instruments, including NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), which helped confirm the presence of water through imaging spectroscopy.

More recently, India's Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved a historic first on August 23 by landing the Vikram lander at the lunar south pole. This region is of high interest because it contains water ice underfoot, which could potentially be harvested for human consumption or processed into rocket propellant. During this mission, the Pragyan rover utilized Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyze the soil. By vaporizing surface samples into plasma with laser pulses, the instrument detected a mélange of elements including aluminum, calcium, chromium, iron, manganese, oxygen, titanium, and silicon.

The most surprising find from the Pragyan rover was the detection of sulfur in the south pole soil—a substance that orbiting probes had never previously detected or been able to identify. This discovery is significant for future infrastructure; scientists suggest that sulfur could be utilized to create building materials, solar cells, and batteries. By mapping these chemical compositions, India is helping to determine what resources future travelers can source locally rather than transporting them from Earth.

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