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“ Standards of living and public perceptions. If the capital investments required are accounted for, the proposed mission can help to stabilize the American standard of living and eventually permit it to continue to rise. Energy scarcity is widely perceived as the root cause of current economic difficulties, a viewpoint stressed repeatedly by the media. Rampant inflation and unemployment, justly or unjustly, are traced directly back to the cost of energy. ”

“ Clearly, future large-scale American space projects should embody a fundamentally new perspective - an overall shift from the existing policy of (primarily) exploration to one of integrated and direct utility for mankind. Such a pragmatic space utilization program may demand extensive use of nonterrestrial materials and an ever-increasing dependence on automation in all its dimensions. ”

“ Given a supply of sufficiently inexpensive nonterrestrial materials, SMF output could be returned to Earth directly in the form of useful commercial products or indirectly in the form of solar power generation or satellite servicing.
The present analysis is explicitly guided by the goal of maximizing the use of automation and robotics during expansion of the processing and manufacturing facilities. Even in the early stages many operations can be conducted by remote teleoperators. As research in robotics continues, more and more system functions will be taken over by autonomous robots. ”

“ Near-term growing productive capability. The Space Manufacturing Facility is intended to take full advantage of past, current, and future research in machine intelligence and robotics. Technological enablers now exist in automation, space transportation, and in the results from lunar research. Present competition in industrial robotics is intense, and rapid beneficial developments might be expected to occur even without NASA funding. ”

“ Consonant with the above motivational framework, major future space missions must be clearly directed toward the utilization of space for the distributive benefit of the American public, and be designed to avert erosion of national living standards. ”

“ Serious exploitation of robotics technology in an SMF scenario, however, will accelerate development and permit a growing productive capability from which immediate, near-term human benefits can be siphoned off. The proposed project is open-ended: Growth in productivity is expected with concurrent multiplication of the range of capabilities available, without infusing large amounts of additional capital.
Capital investment. The primary investment is for the establishment of two starting facilities, one on the Moon and one in Earth orbit. ”

“ Given the education the public already has received, it should not require too much additional effort to make people aware that their own short- and long-term interests are well-served by the SMF. The poor economic climate actually may prove an added fiscal impetus for the mission rather than a restraint. ”

“ The establishment of a solar power satellite, on the other hand, is of more direct and tangible value. This kind of SMF product could have direct impact on energy costs now borne by the public and could lead to a visible decrease of dependence on foreign energy supplies. ”

“ However, rapid factory growth necessitates the use of lunar or asteroidal resources. Therefore, a lunar processing and manufacturing facility (Dalton and Hohmann, 1972) , possibly self-replicating (see chapter 5) , is presupposed in the growth scenario.
The availability of nonterrestrial materials could make possible a decreasing dependence on Earth-based supplies. Growth of the Space Manufacturing Facility (SMF) subsequently would require no major additional Earth resource inputs. ”

“ This goal was chosen because only through the development of extraterrestrial resources can future space activities be pursued independently of terrestrial resource limitations and management constraints. ”