The following attributes of space make it attractive for various types of industrialization:
Easy gravity control
Absence of atmosphere
Comprehensive overview of the earth's surface and atmosphere
Isolation from earth's biosphere (for hazardous processes)
Freely available light, heat, and power
Infinite natural reservoir for disposal of waste products and safe storage of radioactive products
Super-cold temperatures (heat sink)
Large, three-dimensional volumes (storage, structures)
Variety of non-diffuse (directed) radiation
Magnetic field
Availability of extraterrestrial raw materials
SOURCE: E. Cornish (ed.), Global Solutions: Innovative Approaches to World Problems (Bethesda, MD: World Future Society, 1984), 81.
America's electrical energy; in the long run, the commercialization of space could also be a stepping-stone to large-scale colonization of space. 1
Essentially there are three areas in which the commercialization of space holds promise. One is the operation of satellites for communications, and for a variety of other practical applications involving observation of the earth from orbit. A second is provision of services to satellite operators-building space systems, launching them, and processing and analyzing the data they supply. The third and perhaps the most exciting is the manufacture in orbit of products that cannot be made on the earth, products that promise societal and economic benefits of immense order. 2
The appeal of manufacturing certain products in space is twofold. First, the absence of gravity and atmosphere allows particles to grow uniformly in size and shape. Second, certain wastes could be disposed of cheaply. Space production has become both technologically and economically feasible only very recently, thanks to the convergence of developments in artificial intelligence and robotics, on one hand, and telecommunications, on the other. Together these developments have made it possible for the private sector to embark on a project to establish a self-sufficient manufacturing facility. 3 (SeeMANUFACTURING FACILITY IN SPACE )
The U.S. government is determined to get the business community involved in the exploration of space. In the words of a former Secretary of Commerce,
C. William Verity, "Space is just a place to do business, just another place where business can thrive." In keeping with this philosophy, the administration in 1988 asked Congress for $10.97 billion for the commercial exploration of space. 4
If space factories seem to be a bit farfetched, spacebound information stations are real. The use of space as a data, information, and knowledge connection is already a multibillion-dollar enterprise. According to projections made at Rockwell International, "By the year 2000, a new system of communicating via space [Skynet 2000] will distribute the benefits of the information revolution around the globe, making productivity jumps possible even in isolated areas of the Third World." 5
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