We Can Learn from NASA's Resourcefulness

NASA is planning to test whether there is water on the moon through a very creative method - by crashing a set of spacecraft and evaluating the dust that is created. Leave it to NASA to conduct a complicated analysis on the composition of the moon's soil based on a violent pounding of its surface.

Although unconventional, NASA is definitely resourceful. I strongly suspect that NASA considered and disqualified numerous other, more expensive methods, for testing the moon's surface, and that their brilliant minds came up with the "crashing" method because it is both accurate and efficient. The organization has a mandate to move mankind forward, beyond the reaches of our planet - yet NASA has a very limited budget which makes tough decision-making a necessary skill.

If other companies (e.g. the automakers) were nearly as imaginative, we'd see some very creative innovations during the hard-times of this recession. If we can learn from NASA's approach, then the constraints of time and money can be turned on their heads and converted into an interestingly unpredictable opportunity.