:: Letters to Editor

Rare minerals on moon

Oct 05 : Sir, Nasa's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, or M3, carried into space on October 22, 2008, aboard the Isro's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft found signs of water at the moon's frigid poles. In the late 1990s, scientists had found pockets of hydrogen on the moon, and inferred that its molecules could bond with oxygen to make water. But this time researchers are reassured that the components exist on the moon to make water because of the presence of hydroxylions. The results also suggest that the molecules are continually being created on the lunar surface. Yet, the talk of colonising the moon is impractical as the optimal conditions for mass human habitation do not exist on the lunarscape. At most what can be attempted is the setting up of a research station to exploit rare minerals like helium-3. It is proposed to be used as a second-generation fusion power source. This is the main reason why scientists are eager to thoroughly explore the moon and ultimately use it as a source of minerals, especially for power generation on earth.

Arup K. Isaacs

Via email

Socialism is on the rise

Sir, I commend Pope Benedict XVI for condemning communism and for illustrating, during his visit to the Czech Republic, how such systems that chase power and deny God are bound to collapse. The Pope's warning has special relevance for the world's democratic governments that are increasingly becoming socialist in nature. The increasing tendency of Canada, the US and European nations to repudiate their Christian roots is not, as some think, the expression of some morally superior tolerance for other cultures but rather the authorisation of an absolute way of thinking and living that is radically opposed to the variety of cultures - cultures which, in the end, are dogmatically relativised.

Paul Kokoski

Hamilton, Ontario (Canada)

Sheila Dikshit is anxious

Sir, Commonwealth Games are looming ahead in "our world class city". So, there is understandable anxiety. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has made an impassioned appeal for a clean and green Delhi and a plea to the city not to be "crude & rude". This follows the home minister's blunt message to the Delhi manoos to change his behaviour before 2010. That reminds me of the Asian Games. The Charan Singh government had said "no" to it, but Indira Gandhi later approved the event. However, she had cause for anxiety, which showed at the Naval Commanders' conference. After her customary references to maritime matters and national security, she expressed her anguish at the state of India's capital city. The Games went off smoothly under the administrative skills of the secretary-general, Sankaran Nair, who worked first with Buta Singh and finally with Rajiv Gandhi.

Mukund B. Kunte

Munirka Enclave, New Delhi

Ambiguous statements

Sir, In a span of a fortnight, two statements have come from the office of the Air Force Chief on the relative strength of the air forces of China and India. The Air Chief who recently retired said that our Air Force was no match for China's. A fortnight later, the new IAF Chief is reported to have said that the present-day IAF is different from that of 1962 and is capable of giving China a run for its money. Which of the two observations should the common man accept as true?

R.J. Khurana

Arera Colony, Bhopal