Real-time teleoperation
Hi Raoul
One thing that might change everything is the development of instantaneous quantum communication. John Cramer's work on "time travel" is really about information exchange via quantum connections, and if he can prove it then we could build UAVs that can be piloted from Earth and flown on any planet. If we can explore by such proxies and control construction machines etc. remotely then there will be very few reasons to actually go in person except for dubious goals like "being there". But teleoperation will allow thousands of people to potentially "work in space" for a minute fraction of the current costs.