Yeah, but space needs to be profitable, not just accessible, for private companies to take over investments. Even as SpaceX fanboy, I have a hard time imagining this any time soon.
Space based internet constellations have a huge resurgence right now, but that's unlikely what the author meant.
(Asteroid) Mining? Even if we already had the tech, such a mission would take decades. Who would accept the uncertainty risk of investing over such long time-spans? That is, if there is anything worthy enough to mine in space in the first place, will that still be the case many years later?
Tourism might be a thing, but enough to bootstrap an entire space economy?
Countries/politicians/billionaires wanting to project power or memorialize themselves still seems like the safest bet to me.
Space based internet constellations have a huge resurgence right now, but that's unlikely what the author meant.
(Asteroid) Mining? Even if we already had the tech, such a mission would take decades. Who would accept the uncertainty risk of investing over such long time-spans? That is, if there is anything worthy enough to mine in space in the first place, will that still be the case many years later?
Tourism might be a thing, but enough to bootstrap an entire space economy?
Countries/politicians/billionaires wanting to project power or memorialize themselves still seems like the safest bet to me.