Something that can be done cheaper and easier in space is metal proccessing. A solar forge works by focusing the light from the sun onto and object. Just like torturing ants with a magnifying glass, except in space where the light and heat from the sun is not dispersed in the Earth's atmosphere.
Experiments done on Earth by McDonnell Douglas using simulated lunar soil were able to make many unique materials with incredible properties. An industrial scale space based solar forge could provide the economic base for a future space colony. Which would undoubtedly need human operators on site in some capacity.
A space based solar forge is simple to build, its basically a bunch of mirrors. Combined with an asteroid mining operation a solar forge would revolutionize both earth based metals mining as well as materials sciences.
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