I think around here that's not exactly an unpopular opinion. :) The problem is that there's no obvious return on investment for space exploration once you get

I think around here that's not exactly an unpopular opinion. :) The problem is that there's no obvious return on investment for space exploration once you get out of Earth orbit, since you need to overcome a vast number of complex scientific and engineering challenges, costing at least tens of billions of dollars, before you can even start to pursue speculative enterprises. Even if we stipulate there being opportunities in zero-g manufacturing or mining, the companies positioned to extract value from those markets are not companies that have any kind of aerospace core competency, so you have an innovation deadlock due to information asymmetries and ambiguous cost/value estimates. No board is going to sign off on tens of billions of dollars of investments with a high probability of failure, poorly-forecastable costs, and no defined market value on the other side of the equation; instead, the highest-value play is to let someone else own the cost and risks and, if they prove feasibility, to only then aggressively apply capital -- essentially, free-ride on the first-mover. In a scenario like this, it's likely that the technology never gets created until the government steps in with funding to break the deadlock.