I was thinking the other day that it seems launching stuff is mostly solved these days but there seems to be a real lack of companies developing "infrastructure" for people once they're up. The only one I know of is Bigelow aerospace, who are working on inflatable space stations that (should) cost a few orders of magnitude less than the current batch of stations. There is also the zero-G ultrapure glass fiber company and the space mining initiative, but they mostly seem to be doing work in space so that they can get the final product back to Earth.<p>Does anyone know of serious companies working on in-orbit manufacturing machines or agricultural equipment? Just a proper CNC lathe or milling machine seems like it would be a giant first step for orbital construction. Perhaps combined with an orbital smelter for making metals out of asteroids.
I have the impression that the space station isn't the most hygienic of environments.<p>I wonder if that poses any problems for growing something like lettuce, with it's very high surface area, for food?<p>Edit: clearly I should have read the whole article before commenting...
I wonder why they started with lettuce. I get the nutrients and minerals part, but the calorific value is low. Potatoes also grow well using hydroponics and would seem to be a better base choice for longer orbits.