Starship Gold Rush
#exploitation
Getting into orbit has always been the biggest challenge of space. A functioning starship would reduce cost to orbit by a factor of ten, with wide-reaching implications. Politically, U.S. dominance of the space environment could grow, with grave implications for multilateral space law; the danger of space debris could grow exponentially. New advances in space technology could surge forward, especially in the fields of resource utilization and in-space manufacturing, as well as significant growth in space tourism.