India's space agency ISRO said on Friday that the first evidence of water on the moon was found by its Moon Impact Probe aboard the Chandrayaan on November 14, 2008.

Within a few days of Chandrayaan reaching the orbit of the moon, when India sent its Tricolour down to the moon's surface on the Impact Probe, that instrument also brought back the first signatures of water on the moon.

This claim implies that India's Moon Mission found the first traces of water even before NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper did in February 2009.

A proud ISRO has said that Indians should be proud of the fact that Chandrayaan enabled the discovery of water on moon.

Addressing mediapersons in Bangalore, ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said that the organisation is proud of the discovery, and that it has been acknowledged as a real one across the globe.

Providing some details about the Lunar discovery, the ISRO chairman said that quantity of water on moon is more than what was expected. He added that the moon impact probe picked up strong signals of water.

The ISRO has also acknowledged NASA for collaboration in the discovery.

The ISRO chairman said, "We truly believe it is a pathbreaking finding. We can say Chandrayaan-1 has been 110 per cent successful."