C O L U M N S

Just weeks after the Indian Space Research Organisation and National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced discovery of evidence of water on the lunar surface, the US Space agency is all set to 'bomb' the moon in search for hidden water in a controversial mission.
Amateur astronomers in parts of the world may be able to view the impact through a telescope; for everyone else, the crash will be broadcast live on the NASA website along with early pictures of the lunar dust cloud during the dramatic mission. Within an hour of the impact, scientists will know whether water was hiding there or not. The mission itself continues to be controversial. Questions have been raised as to whether the crash-landing on the moon was necessary for science or will it be worth the damage done to the moon. Critics say the bombing mission interferes with natural forces.
But NASA says the bombing isn't an act of hostility and it's all part of our search for water in space. According to reports, the spacecraft will hit that part of the moon where scientists believe billions of tonnes of trapped ice may be held.
The two spaceships will smash into the moon at 9,000 km per hour, more than seven times the speed of sound. The explosion will have the force of 1.5 tonnes of TNT and throw 350,000 kgs of lunar dirt out of the crater. It will create a new crater inside an old one about half the size of an Olympic swimming pool.