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.

I dunno. What's their stance on exploiting Argent energy from Hell? ;)

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.

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Boeing CEO Vows to Beat Musk to Mars

It's almost surreal how much renewed interest space flight, exploration, and other endeavors has taken hold lately after a couple decades of stagnant, seemingly routine operations. Now just in the past few years, beginning with Curiosity, Mars has been our focal point. Now it feels like less of a dream and more like an eventuality that I could step on the surface of our moon or Mars in a casual fashion.

It's an interesting time to be alive. Maybe I can die on Mars? That'd be swell.

or eat potatoes grown with your own feces in an alien soil