It was only in 1969, that Neil Armstrong of the United States was fortunate to land and walk on moon. He had uttered the now world famous historic sentence, “A step of man is a giant leap forward for mankind.”

 

Now, 40 years later, another step forward has been taken by India. Chandrayaan-I, our space vehicle to the moon, has discovered that there is water on moon. The discovery of water, one of the basic requirements of life, has opened new avenues of research about space and the possibility of life on moon. The scientists say that future missions to the natural satellite would be cheaper as water need not be carried from earth.

 

A word of caution to our idealist fellow citizen and citizens of other countries is necessary. Water on moon does not mean that there is an ocean or a lake or a river there. Instead, it is embedded in the lunar rock samples found there. As far as volume of water available on moon is concerned, it can be measured in spoons and not in gallons or litres. To an estimate, one ton of the top lunar layer surface may give us 32 ounces of water.

 

The mere fact that now water has been discovered on the dry moon is an encouraging fact in itself. Coming back to the question of will moon be colonised by man, it's too early to say anything on the subject at this point of time.