The simple answer to this question is that earth’s gravity turns into a minor issue. So you can use more fuel on accelerating your ship, rather than to climb out of the earth’s gravitational pull.With that, come many other advantages. Like not having to conform to an aerodynamic design. for example, think of the Lunar Module. It was made to operate in space, and on the Moon. But, never on Earth’s atmosphere. This allowed engineers to design the ship much differently than anything else we had seen before.(Compare in this photo, the Apollo Command Module with its areodynamic design for exiting and re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and the LeM, or Lunar Module)(Please note the image above was computer generated)Another example that comes to mind, is the comparison between Skylab, a small space station we packaged in one piece and launched to space, which got damaged during launch and deployment and never actually worked right (the solar array broke, and could not gather enough energy, the module would overheat, etc).(Notice how Skylab is missing the solar array on the low right section of the spaceship, and how a crew had to deploy a thermal protective blanket across the top (also on the right side) to be able to maintain temperatures within certain limits).Now consider the Space Station, which was assembled 100% in space (with modules made on earth, but deployed via the Space Shuttle)(Looks a little better, huh?)This is my two cents. Hope it helps! :)
The last time I moved, I had about 16 tons of household goods. You asked to launch a studio apartment, so this would have to be about a 3,000 square foot apartment to be similar in size to my house.We would also have to figure in the weight of the structure itself.This website suggests that a "typical" house weighs between 80,000 and 160,000 poundsWhat does a house weigh? Some mental heavy liftingTo keep things simple, we will call it 100,000 pounds, for a total of 132,000 pounds (100,000 + 16*2000)NASA estimates that it costs $10,000 to launch one pound into space (sorry, I can't link to it because of the gov shutdown, but trust me)Therefore, the cost to launch this is $1.32 B.I am pretty sure this is on the low side, and there would probably be some cost overruns, Of course you will be responsible for paying the water, gas, and cable bills yourself. At least you won't have to worry about taking care of the yard.
1. "Lean Space Research" and an explosion in aerospace startupsWhen costs were reduced in the Web industry over the past 5-10 years, we witnessed an explosion of innovation. You'll see the same with space. At $500/kg, companies can affordably "iterate" on satellite and spacecraft development. Startups might build unmanned space vehicles, microsats, and research facilities at a rapid pace. The downside is the crowded orbits will get worse. Debris and collisions will be a problem that a startup could affordably tackle.This also implies an explosion in VC investments in aerospace startups. 2. Luxury Space VacationsAssuming an average passenger load of 80-100kg, a traveller could purchase a trip to space for just $40k-50k! That's on par with a transcontinental trip on a private jet or a long vacation. Not only is this a better experience than Virgin Galactic's $200k/seat minute-long journey into "space," this price point makes space vacations accessible to a large section of the population, not just millionaires. 3. Space stations for science & leisureThe International Space Station has cost over $150 billion (USD). A portion of that is attributed to the 36 space shuttle flights which cost $1.4 billion each. A hotel resort or casino is likely, as well as many science-related space stations.This will propel research into the effects of prolonged space flight on the human body, better space suits, space-based energy facilities, and a greater understanding of what is required for humans to stay in space for extended periods of time. This is a crucial step for space exploration to kick off.
It costs an enormous amount of money to launch mass into space from Earth. Why spend a nickel to launch something valuable into space (like nickel!) when you can find it already in space!Asteroids are loaded with metal, which is good for building ships, and water, which is good for fueling them, and of course drinking and watering the plants in your spaceship’s greenhouse.It’s the water everyone is most likely thinking about from a profit standpoint - if you can extract water from an asteroid, you can launch a ship without much fuel and pick up some hydrogen and oxygen from an asteroid that a company towed into orbit…for a hefty fee, mind you. And people would gladly pay that fee, rather than pay the even higher cost of launching it from the Earth. What’s more, you could launch passenger craft without much water on board and fill up from the same asteroid. This could really lighten the load (and cost) when it comes to launching spacecraft from Earth.