The trend of buying land on the Moon is increasing day by day in India. Although, physically, one cannot own property on the moon - one can't even charge rocket-parking when Nasa lands one of its shuttles on one's plot - the certificate is the only thing that the customer receives on purchasing it. For many, it’s a valuable gift.
An Indian businessman from Gujarat has bought an acre of land on the Moon for his two-month-old son Nitya.
According to media reports, Vijaybhai Kathiriya sought permission to buy it from the International Lunar Registry in New York.
"Kathiriya sent an email to get approval on 13 March and soon got the green light and submitted all the documents that were necessary for this," reports say, adding that the family received a certificate named after their son from the company.
The land they bought is located at Mare Moscoviense which means Sea of Muscovy and is on the far side of the celestial body.
Though the actual price of the land remains unknown, generally it costs about $750 (over INR 54,000)
Kathiriya is not the only Indian to have bought land on the Moon - Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan revealed in an interview in 2009 that an Australian woman buys a little land on the Moon for him on his birthday every year.
"She has been buying it for a while now and I get these certificates from the Lunar Registry," Khan said.
Recently, another man from Odisha state claimed to have bought a piece of land on the Moon as a gift for his newborn daughter.
