Do we have to build large space habitats in order to establish an SPS industry?
Actually, no. All that’s required is a Space Manufacturing Facility capable of taking in the lunar (or asteroidal) soils, smelting them into silicon, metals, and other pure elements, and fabricating the needed components. Workforce living quarters are apt to be spartan at first, but past a certain point (after SPS has begun to turn a profit) it’s likely that some portion of the industrial output will be turned to the task of building better homes for the workers in order to reduce employee turnover. In the long term, the construction of additional settlements may become a chief occupation of the space settlers. Industrial productivity, in the form of additional living space, is calculated to exceed workforce population increase, so an industry can exist for the building of habitats for immigrants from Earth.
