Space provides platforms from which it is possible to link any two global locations, thus making line-of-sight communication via satellite a reality. Use of space communication links is currently limited more by economic than by technological factors. The economics of space communication systems is of prime concern in exploiting the industrial applications of space.

The difference between futures forecasting and scientific prediction is not one of rigor but of purpose. The scientist's purpose is to test a specific model about the world; anything which threatens that test must be controlled by (a) elimination, (b) experimental manipulation, or ( c) statistical manipulation. The futures researcher's goal, however, is not to test a model but to suggest ( through discovery or logic) a model which encompasses and extends our perception of reality sufficiently well to permit choices or decisions to be made.