The moon played host to a unique Indo-US tango, all done in a bid to confirm the existence of water on the otherwise parched moon.
 
It seems water is the true unifying force between two of the world's most respected space agencies. The American space agency NASA had recently warned about how India's granary Punjab and Haryana were being sucked dry due to over use of ground water. On its part the Indian Space Research Organization has also been keeping track of soil moisture over India in an effort to alleviate the misery caused because of the drought.
 
But finding water on the moon is a much tougher challenge. On the lunar North pole a unique `bi-static' experiment was conducted on August 20, in a bid to search for water ice.  The maiden Indian lunar craft Chandrayaan-1 and the American satellite Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that are both currently in the moon's orbit were  brought within 30 kilometers of each other and synchronously the onboard mini RADAR's of each was focused on the Erlanger crater, signals sent in tandem to this permanently shaded crater were picked up. 
 
Indian scientists point to a search for water ice above the moon's north pole, conducted with the United States on August 20, as a sign that India's lunar craft Chandrayaan-1 is functioning well. India's first lunar satellite had trouble earlier this year with a fine guidance mechanism. This tango was carried out at a distance of 400,000 kilometers from earth went on for a full 4 minutes when both spacecrafts were traveling at a velocity of 1.6 kilometers per second. Calling it 'a unique and complex experiment performed with precision' G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore, said this 'duet' brings scientist closer to understanding the moon's composition. The data from this one of its kind experiment is still being analyzed.
 
So, are we today better placed to solve the mystery on the presence of water on the moon? 'I think so' says Paul D. Spudis, Principal Investigator for the RADAR instruments onboard both the spacecrafts who works at Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston who feels 'multiple spacecraft looking at the lunar poles with multiple instruments and we will soon have an abundance of data on the problem. That doesn't mean we will solve it, but we will be much better informed than at any previous time.' Finding water is the key for future colonization of the moon.