Private Enterprise + Massive Profits = Win (Off-Topic)

by Grizzlei , Pacific Cloud Zone, Earth, Wednesday, October 05, 2016, 15:30 (2759 days ago) @ Durandal

Space has almost infinite resources. A single asteroid can contain more iron then mankind has mined to date. A comet contains enough water to irrigate the Gobi desert for years. Zero G manufacturing can make all sorts of metamaterals at low, low prices.

The key to all of that is getting out of our gravity well and establishing a foothold elsewhere. Space-X, Musk, Boeing, etc all are able to act in part because this is one sector where the government has given them a free hand, and all want to act there because the profit motive is huge. Even if they are not the first to market there are still huge benefits.

Compare this to the airplane business, where Boeing can't even build a new plant without the Union and Government approval.

My first thought fell to, "Competition kills complacency and nutures innovation." No ones going to settle on the same thing when the alternative strikes gold—winning contracts and becoming mainstays for years, and decades to come. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems (lol), and now, Space X, among others, if they all put their efforts into the space arena should produce wonderful results. Like you said, there's nothing but profit in these ventures. The risks are incredible, the endeavor monumental, but the rewards are truly endless.