It may actually be more affordable to build some kinds of high cost-per-kg structures (e.g. datacenters, high-tech factories) in space than on land.
This seems to be partly the reason for Google Suncatcher project. However, it’s not clear that the have a solution to the cooling problem that allows anything of the scale of datacenter to exist in space.
Nobody builds datacenters that can run without water on earth because the cooling without water is too expensive. It will get more expensive in space.
The application you didn’t list are surveillance satellites. The cost of providing 24⁄7 video surveillance of the whole world is dropping.
This seems to be partly the reason for Google Suncatcher project. However, it’s not clear that the have a solution to the cooling problem that allows anything of the scale of datacenter to exist in space.
Nobody builds datacenters that can run without water on earth because the cooling without water is too expensive. It will get more expensive in space.
The application you didn’t list are surveillance satellites. The cost of providing 24⁄7 video surveillance of the whole world is dropping.