Space...the final frontier?

I have referred before the important role of corporations. I have shown that corporations enjoy a multitude of rights and they are important counterparts of the private citizen. In fact, capitalism is built around these corporate citizens. I have pointed out that while there might be negative externalities spilling from the core activities of the corporate world on the remaining of the society, corporations have their important role for the overall progress and wellbeing of the humankind. I have argued that while there might be reasons to provide incentives for corporations to become more socially and environmentally responsible, this has to be done within their natural framework, which is profit maximizing.
I have also said that I believe that an even clearer line has to be drawn between the corporate citizen and the private citizen. This is due to the fact that, even if today they enjoy pretty similar legal regulation, these two citizens are driven by different behavioral motives and objectives. Corporations are less susceptible, if at all, to posses the kind of moral restrains that humans supposedly posses. In fact, it is not natural for them to be restrained by such reasons. Corporations should strive to succeed, even if this means wiping out their fellows. This Machiavellian, or I should say Schumpeterian behavior is desirable, and the ultimate result is an increased overall welfare, progress and efficient allocation of resources.

However, I can see a potential problem with this separation between the corporate world and the remaining of the society. Every time there will be an objective that falls outside the profit maximizing framework, society will fail to account for it. I guess pollution reduction falls in this category. It is fortunate that we still have the means to impose socially desirable objectives to the corporate world, although it is not an easy thing to do. But there are objectives that are very difficult to be brought within the desirable spectrum for the large audience. And it could happen that these objectives might be extremely beneficial for the humankind because they would create an unexpected range of opportunities, even for the profit-seeking citizens. One obvious example is interplanetary exploration. It is very difficult to see direct and profitable benefits from such an activity, at this point, but the gold mine could be there anyhow. And because developed world is built around the needs of the corporate citizen (capitalism), there was no real push in this direction outside the national pride of a few countries. I guess the time will come when we will experience an explosion of efforts towards extraterrestrial activities. But that will happen only when the corporate world will identify material benefits. This practically means that our path and rate of development are entirely determined by the spillovers of the corporate world. Could this be a frontier in itself? I’d say it could, and it seems to be yet bounded within the space frontier.