In real life, private companies are rapidly advancing the state of the art of access to space. SpaceX, Blue Origins, and a number of other private companies are developing new technology as well. These efforts will give us the opportunity to create an industrial future in space that can offset some of the ill effects on industrialization on the planet surface.

It’s been over five decades since the first manned landing on the Moon. Despite a lot of stagnation and dead ends, humanity is now at a point where we can venture into space to stay. I envision two clusters of industrial outposts in the Earth-Moon L4 and L5 Lagrange points. These stable points can serve as a center of a cluster of orbiting stations where mining and manufacturing can take place.

Asteroids represent both potential hazard as well as potential opportunity. A key goal of an industrial future in space will be asteroid surveillance and deflection to prevent a catastrophic impact on Earth. Once we learn how to guide asteroids away from Earth, we may well learn how to corral them and move them into the L4 and L5 clusters for mining. This can provide raw materials for manufacturing in space as well. It will be far cheaper and easier to source raw materials in space than to lift them out of Earth’s gravity well. This will be an ideal plalce to build space habitats and vehicles for exploration of the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System resources

If we can move asteroids and mine them, we can also sculpt them into habitats where spin gravity and radiation shielding can ameliorate the ill effects of long-duration stays in space. Each of these steps can help us reach out even further.

Stay tuned for more discussion of this important aspect of our future.

You can also see more of my musings and news of space infrastructure on my Facebook group Industrial Future in Space.