The way progress works, once we can cost-effectively mine the resources of the asteroid belt, it will create demand for technology to explore the Oort cometary region. Mastery of that stage will create technology for the next.
yep..as soon as the cost vs return maths work out, the world will change and fast. we are on the cusp of a change i think. we need the tech to remotely mine and return material at a price point that gives a return.
the new companies springing up will move space away from a govt run adventure to a profitable business. to be fair to the US government, the lack of funding to NASA has created these businesses. by dropping shuttles etc, they have created space for companies to thrive and push.
on the EM drive, at some point someone will build it and prove it works or doesnt. it seems kinda unbelievable to me but up until recently so was landing a rocket on a ship...
To explore the closest systems to us we need at least, AT LEAST light speed travel. Even then we’ll need self contained biospheres for the years in space humans will be subjected to. To efficiently explore systems close to us we need FTL, which may not be possible.
The first thing we need is to be able to get things into space cheap. It’s too expensive to get massive objects into space but that’s what we need. A space elevator, or some really cheap fuel.