It would be pretty easy for them to have done the math in advance and I’m sure they’re aware that space travel is expensive.

I'm sure they've done the maths and determined that it's not economically feasible at all.

But if it works as a proof of concept, in three or four generations time perhaps they'll have a scalable process which pays for itself.

This exactly. At scale there are a lot of things that are profitable that are idiotic when done Ad Hoc. To get to scale though you need a particular kind of bullshitter who can hold on to the idea that what they say is true and also on some level understand that they have to idea how to do the bullshit they're promoting.