re: Commercial missions
I've been discussing the commercialization of space with ESA friends and they don't believe it unless there are subsidies.
There are 3 kinds of missions that SEEM to be commercially appealing:
launching communication satellites, navigation satellites and observation satellites.
HOWEVER:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles could do all of it for a tiny fraction of the costs of launching satellites. The UAVs can spend months in high altitude and produce continued local data and information. Reminds me of the masts for the cell phones, that killed Iridium.
Raoul