The economic motive is emerging as the real motive for going into space in the coming century. The commercial satellite demonstrated
that this was possible – in fact,
communication satellites have been around for decades.
The space shuttle is only the first of several systems (many of them in the private sector) that will help to make space transportation regular, reliable and economical. The need of the hour is a “space truck” capable of putting tons of payload into space, on a regular basis. The space shuttle was intended to fulfill this requirement, but never quite lived up to its initial promise.
Another area of
industrialization is space products – products such as new alloys, semiconducting materials and potent drugs - that can be only made in the unique environment of space, in the absence of gravity.
It is the marketplace that is going to determine whether or not a number of innovative commercial concepts make sound business sense. As the commercial satellite has demonstrated, the industrialization of space has important applications for people living upon the earth as well. It is difficult to assess the long range impact of the communication satellite upon our lives.
Besides communication satellites and space products, yet another promising area of space industrialization is energy. It is feasible, both from the point of view of costs and technology, to build structures in space to collect solar energy, convert it to microwaves, and beam it to the earth without damaging the environment. We could supply most of our power needs using this technology.
Any discussion on the industrialization of space would be meaningless without taking into account the people needed to build, operate, maintain and repair the equipment. This is likely to become an area of constraint; people are not as readily disposable and / or replacable as machines are. Builiding additional layers of safety would simply mean adding to the cost factor. Nonetheless, where there is a threat, there is also an opportunity – in the form of space tourism. The reduction of transportation costs is likely to boost space tourism.
In conclusion, the author states that space colonies will evolve from the industrialization of space – not the other way around!