In my youth, post WWII, science was so well funded by the govt and corporations that I could go to grad school full time while earning a full time salary from Raytheon. Likewise, almost any research topic would be funded by the cows. Times have changed. We as a society have forgotten that it was our science and technology, especially mass production, that one the war. We did not have the most sophisticated weapons in WWII. We just had the most weapons by far, and that overwhelmed the enemy. So right after the war we concentrated on sophistication in the competition with the USSR. But our present threat has no technical sophistication except what can be stolen from others. So the motivation for serious funding of research is being lost, except for, as you say, to make profits. But even that can backfire like the dot.com fad. The govt is pushing space defense as a means to ensure continued sophistication, as well as take control of space. The is the ultimate power- to control space. It won Desert Storm, for example. So I guess you are right- it's all power and profits.