Scientists around the world rejoiced at the discovery and hoped it would pave the way for growing vegetation in the earth's natural satellite.

'This is a very, very important finding... If somehow water was found on the moon, you could use that water right out there. You could extract it,' said Amitabha Ghosh, space scientist at NASA.

'It's a great feat,' renowned scientist Y.S. Rajan told IANS in New Delhi. 'It will help make human venturing to moon a more enriching experience. Those going to moon can combine the molecule and get water.

'They can also break it and get oxygen which is a major problem for scientists in space,' said Rajan, who has written the book 'India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium', along with former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Mila Mitra, a scientist formerly associated with NASA, said: 'This is truly significant because it will help find any trace of life on moon.'

'Now you will see more money being invested in moon missions. There might be manned moon missions. Now you will see more emphasis on such endeavours,' she added.

The discovery was just the breakthrough international space scientists were waiting for in order to kick start the moon exploration programme again, Britain's Royal Astronomical Society's (RAS) secretary Martin Barstow said.

'The discovery of water is significant not only for reasons of science, but also for the sheer practical reason of returning to moon exploration, especially by the US,' said Barstow, who is pro-vice chancellor and professor of astrophysics and space science at the University of Leicester.

Barstow, whose university works closely with Indian space scientists in Bangalore and supplies instruments to the Indian Astrosat programme, said the Chandrayaan-1 finding showed that India had begun to play a vital role in the global space exploration agenda.

Annadurai hinted that more dramatic findings from the moon mission would be published in international scientific journals later.

'This is only the first paper. We had 11 payloads (scientific instruments) on board Chandrayaan-1. We expect more such papers to be published in the coming weeks and months.'