The future of technology is in space.

The space offers the perfect place to create complicated 3D structures. But the big problem is how to get the factory to the space. 

Zero gravity conditions are the best that nanotechnology developers can think of. There is a vision that tomorrow's medical and nanotechnical research will happen in remote-AI-controlled capsules. Those capsules allow researchers to create new medicines. They also offer a place where researchers can work with deadly organisms. When the tests are made and results are driven to Earth. The system can drive those laboratories into the Sun. If we want to make medicines in space, we need new, large-scale space planes. 

Those spaceplanes can keep the remote-controlled laboratories inside them. In another version, the manufacturing units are small, remotely controlled capsules that involve laboratories. When those systems make wanted molecules, the space plane can collect them from the orbiter. 

Two futuristic startups are pathfinders in the space technology. There is the possibility that power satellites will be a reality sooner than we think. The power satellite harnesses solar energy and transmits it to Earth using radio, microwave, or laser systems. Those satellites will offer free energy solutions for the entire planet. Power satellites can also offer their power transmitter systems for communication purposes. That allows us to connect energy and data into the same system. 

The power satellite can offer a long-distance laser communication capacity that is immune to plasma bursts that the sun sends. NASA introduced The idea of long-distance optical data transmission in the 1990s in the planned TAU (Thousand Astronomical Units) project. That kind of laser communication revolutionizes communication between Earth and space probes. But if we think about communication between Earth and some Kuiper belt probe, that requires powerful laser systems. The laser system can also deliver energy to high-flying drones and other systems. 

Another startup plans to begin space mining. Asteroids are full of minerals that the world requires. Asteroid mining is one of the solutions to the problem. That the lack of certain metals causes. Astroid mining can happen in many ways. One version is to use the shuttle pair. The cargo shuttle finds the wanted asteroid. And then the small robot starts to cut the asteroid into pieces and load those pieces into the shuttle's cargo bay. 

The robot might look like some kind of fly, or crab. It cuts the asteroid using laser cutters. The other version is that the small shuttle packs an asteroid in the mylar bag. And then pulls it into the Earth's orbiter. At orbital trajectory, robots will put it into pieces. That bag might look like a giant parachute or trawl. The shuttle pulls that trawl over the asteroid and closes it inside it. Another version is the giant plastic bag that collects space dust and carries it to the ground. 

Sometimes some people resist asteroid mining because that destroys their scientific values. The fact is that all asteroids have no scientific value. And there can be rules that the asteroids with some special values must not used. That means that asteroids like Vesta and Ceres might not allowed to mine. There are lots of smaller asteroids that are easier to put into a bag. 

The problem is that the space lasers and asteroids allow to creation of new types of weapons. The space laser can destroy other satellites. Same way there is a possibility that the space laser will be aimed at the city areas. The power satellites are also tools that can control the entire planet. 

The asteroid mining has similar problems. If calculations go wrong and about 100X100 meters asteroid drops into the Earth's atmosphere that thing can cause large destruction. When we think about the use of asteroids as weapons, we might think that the system is based on natural asteroids. There is the possibility of launching about 100kg of concrete projectile into space. There that system can use the moon as a gravity sling and then it can travel to Earth. If that object hits to city area, it causes massive destruction. 

https://www.freethink.com/space/asteroid-mining-astroforge

https://www.freethink.com/series/the-freethink-interview?media_id=0U1U1gf2

 https://www.freethink.com/space/space-based-solar-power-aetherflux

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAU_(spacecraft)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5SBF48WqV4