Chandrayaan-1 inspires Hyderabadi Youth to Float Moon Lovers' Club

October 20, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Oct 19: A group of city enthusiasts has floated a Moon Lovers' Club and plans to open a lunar portal on the web, coinciding with the launch of India's maiden mission to the unknown realms of the Earth's only natural satellite.
As the Indian Space Research Organisation gets ready with its ambitious lunar venture to study the little known secrets of the brightly shining object in the sky, the group led by young management executive Rajzeev V Baagree has pooled its resources to bring together all those who love the Moon.
Incidentally, Rajzeev Baagree, who hails from Hyderabad, is the first Indian to "purchase" a plot on the Moon a couple of years ago for Rs 4,600. His lunar venture inspired three more Indians to buy an acre of land each on the Moon.
"India is embarking on the Moon Yatra. And as one who `owns’ a plot in the lunar world, I feel it’s my responsibility to mobilise support from all quarters for the success of the Moon Mission. India has always inspired the world and now it’s all set to present Moon in a new form.
Chandrayaan-1 will be able to reveal the facets of the Moon which we do not know at present,” Rajzeev told this correspondent.
Thousands of Indians have already registered their names with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA for its lunar mission scheduled some time later. NASA has plans to send the names, of all those who have enrolled with it, to the lunar terrain. Since there’s not much atmospheric activity up over there, the names will remain for posterity.
Rajzeev also plans to “construct” a house of his own on the Moon. But he knows he has to wait till the NASA, the ISRO or some other space agency starts sending people to the lunar world on a pleasure trip. “Human habitation on the Moon is going to become a possibility sooner or latter. As the owner of a plot there, I can welcome our people. They can be my guests,” he hopes.
The membership to the Moon Lovers’ Club is open to all. Any one who has some interest in astronomy or simply moon can enroll themselves as members. The idea, according to Rajzeev, is to bring people with same interests onto the common platform so that they can share their knowledge with one another. The proposed Lunar Portal will help reduce distance between two Moon lovers. They can simply log onto the portal and post their comments.
Thus far as much as 300 million acres of lunar land has been “sold” by lunarlandowner.com, one of the many agencies that “market” lands on the moon. And the Chandrayaan-1 mission has only renewed the interests on lunar real estate deals.