I have been thinking about this and what I really hope we do is build a fully automated colony in space. Making it livable for humans is a huge pain in the ass,

I have been thinking about this and what I really hope we do is build a fully automated colony in space. Making it livable for humans is a huge pain in the ass, but if we restrict the scope to just sustaining robots then it becomes easier. Energy is easy: Solar panels. There is also repairs which might be trickier. Need to mine for materials and refine them into spare parts. Once you have a self-sustaining colony you could use it to assemble useful stuff. Luxury goods for terrestrial consumption. Or you could use it to build a stage-2 colony that is suitable for humans. Or maybe rockets and stuff to keep expanding into space.