> To say that this is truly an economic process is cheating slightly, since the ledger fails to account for the trivial matter of the $100bn or so spent to build the space station in the first place.
The ISS is a laboratory, I don't think it's fair to consider its cost as a factor here in the same way you don't consider the cost of the University campus for other research.
I highly doubt they'll be doing full-scale manufacturing on the ISS. They'll be using it (as it was designed) to conduct experiments on their technology and prove that it can be done. Only then will the real investment will begin where they construct dedicated manufacturing facilities.
I wonder if this would be an opportunity for Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable modules?
The ISS is a laboratory, I don't think it's fair to consider its cost as a factor here in the same way you don't consider the cost of the University campus for other research.
I highly doubt they'll be doing full-scale manufacturing on the ISS. They'll be using it (as it was designed) to conduct experiments on their technology and prove that it can be done. Only then will the real investment will begin where they construct dedicated manufacturing facilities.
I wonder if this would be an opportunity for Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable modules?