India's first lunar mission has found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface, The Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

Data from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft also suggests water is still being formed on the moon, the British newspaper said.

"It's very satisfying," the newspaper quoted Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission's project director at the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore, as saying.

The newspaper said the breakthrough would be announced by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Thursday.

Nasa's website says it will hold a media briefing at 1440 EDT on September 24 to "reveal new scientific findings about the moon" from data collected during national and international space missions.

The unmanned Indian craft was equipped with Nasa's Moon Mineralogy Mapper. - Reuters