The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on the invitation of NASA began a joint nine-day field test on 10 July 2012 in a volcanic area near Hilo, Hawaii. This test has been designed to help evaluate technologies and concepts for lunar exploration. But, are such projects justifiable while governments cry “financial crisis”, before shutting down vital social programmes and environmental protection mechanisms? What do you also think about the idea of investing billions of dollars in such programmes in light of massive job layoffs due to a "lack of money"?
Dubbed RESOLVE (short for "Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction"), the CSA indicates that project architects seek to demonstrate how future explorers could extract water and other useful resources from the lunar soil at potential polar landing sites. Terrestrial field work, like the RESOLVE mission, enables scientific and technical teams to test exploration concepts in a cost-efficient manner to reduce the risks in designing future missions.