There is and will be a fair amount of demand for launching satellites into orbit. [1] Lowering cost and more advanced micro satellites will probably increase demand.
I think the real economic driver in the future will be mining resources from asteroids. Could be a trillion dollar market in the future.
Seems like the costs of dealing with low orbit would make high endurance balloons and solar-powered aircraft, such as Google is experimenting with, a more viable option.
I think the real economic driver in the future will be mining resources from asteroids. Could be a trillion dollar market in the future.
[1]http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast...