The mega-million dollar plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals like platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020.

The inaugural step, to be achieved in the next 18 to 24 months, would be launching the first in a series of private telescopes that would search for rich asteroid targets.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/ ... z1swxdGON4

Space travel fueled by capitalism? Ah, yes, Roddenberry's prophetic vision of Star Trek is finally coming to fruition (except we're the evil alternate universe from that one episode where Spock had a goatee and the Federation was an evil empire).

I prefer to think of it as deriving more from the juvenile SF I read in the 50s, some Heinlein, some of the Winston SF series, and such.

GKC

In the Star Trek universe actually they have no money...and the funny thing is, even though after nearly 50 years of novels, comic books etc exploring every corner and facet of the Star Trek universe, no one has ever bothered to try to explain how a civilization can possibly get by without money. I mean, how do they build those starships, and those massive space stations, if there is no money? Of course, the reason why no one has ever tried to explain how the Star Trek economy works is because it is obviously impossible.

In Star Trek there's no money. Thus Star Trek is communist.


The Jedi on the other hand are republicans. Which makes the Sith the democrats.

To be exact, Jedi are republican Fransiscans (because of the brown robe), while the Sith are democrats Jesuits (because of the black robe).