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Two things. In the near future launch prices are going to be much lower, which changes the landscape in exploration and exploitation of space completely. That
by InclinedPlane 11y ago
Two things.
In the near future launch prices are going to be much lower, which changes the landscape in exploration and exploitation of space completely. That means that you can get more missions for fewer dollars. It means you can be more adventurous and innovative (since the cost of failure is lower and the time to recover is shorter). Which includes things like making increasing use of advanced propulsion (ion engines, plasma propulsion, etc.) which would enable things like a Neptune orbiter or what-have-you.
As to communications, almost certainly there will be a change to laser based communications over long distances. The technology is maturing and once we have the ability to put more infrastructure off-Earth (orbit, etc.) then you can replace things like the DSN with laser based communication hubs in orbit or at L2 or L4/L5 or wherever. They'd take the form of essentially space telescopes with special instrumentation for sending and receiving laser comms. That would make it possible to send and receive at a much higher rate across the entire solar system.