Besides a governmental financial incentive, which is probably a reasonable idea even if not ideologically pure (although conservatives love to give corporations, not people, money, the more the better), what would ultimately be a source of profit for the investment?

I'm assuming that it would be much more expensive to launch a shuttle, even a relatively inexpensive shuttle, than to launch a satellite on a single use system.

Tourism would cover some of it, but there doesn't seem to be much demand for manufacturing or research. They could launch some satellites, too, I guess.

I'm not saying it couldn't be profitable, I'm just wondering where it might be.

Arf