[wizzwizz4]

That doesn't mean they're going to space for traditional profitability, though. The advertising budget is a classic example: none of those activities are profitable, but they alter market behaviour such that other parts of the company can make money.

[threethirtytwo]

Yeah going to space is not an "advertising budget".

[wizzwizz4]

Which doesn't mean it's not another example of the same phenomenon. Many companies do things that are not, and will never be, profitable (in the traditional sense), because they have ulterior motives.

[threethirtytwo]

False. The objective a company is to make profit, anything else is a side quest and is less relevant.

There isn’t an “ulterior” motive here. The motive is clear: profit. We just can’t pinpoint the exact pathway to it in terms of details.

[wizzwizz4]

Not all companies have "make profit" as their primary goal. But what I meant by "ulterior motive" was that their space factory may never provide enough output for that alone to justify the cost. Their plan may be for the factory in space to bring money in other ways (e.g. making them eligible for grants they would otherwise not have received).