Published: September 25, 2009
Water on The Moon: What Does It Mean to The World?
By A.M. Jamsheed Basha
NASA Thanks ISRO For Partnership and Major Breakthrough in Search for Water on the Moon.
When India's maiden moon mission Chandrayan I aborted, everyone thought India's mission failed. But the ISRO scientists held their nerve and did not disappoint the country and world community. The data collected by aborted Chandrayan I was more than sufficient in terms of specific evidence of water on the moon.
Perhaps no other lunar mission in the past was as successful as the aborted India's Chandrayaan I that baffled and astonished western scientific community. NASA in particular was quick to analyse the data and confirmed the presence of water in large quantity than expected on the Moon.
ISRO in a statement said, "Excellent quality data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had clearly indicated the presence of water molecules on the lunar surface extending from lunar poles to about 60 degrees latitude". The analysis of the huge volume of M3 data was carried out by a joint team of scientists from the US and India. The team had concluded that there were traces of hydroxyl (OH) and water (H2O) molecules on the surface of the moon closer to the polar region.
That means these findings could lead to further probe and exploitation of the Moon surface to find out whether life on the Moon could be possible. ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair on Friday claimed that the mission was 110% successful and that it is possible to extract water from the moon just a few hours after it was confirmed that water was present on the lunar surface.
NASA thanking India for the partnership and the discovery of water on the moon also said that discovery of water would be crucial for future manned space flights. But it is too early to say whether life on the moon would be possible. Further in-depth analysis and research are required to confirm habitation on the moon.
All said and done, hats off to our scientists in ISRO for venturing into a successful moon mission in its maiden trip albeit aborted at the last moment but not before making a crucial discovery of presence of water on the moon. India thus proved to the world that it has the capability to make scientific discoveries better than any other country in the world.
India's successful Chandrayaan I maiden lunar mission was another feather on the cap after it has launched seven satellites in the orbit recently in 20 minutes. More such innovation in space technology is in the offing and the world has just begun to take notice of India's scientific achievement which is no mean to their counterparts in the west.
A.M. Jamsheed Basha is a Chennai-based columnist, who writes at www.newageislam.org and NewsBlaze.com
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