Squad has said they'd like to make ksp a space agency simulator(and also a space flight simulator at the same time), complete with discovering celestial bodies and managing finances, multiple times on multiple interviews; a citation shouldn't be needed because it is abundant. If you look at the parts they all have a value listed if I recall correctly indicating that some sort of currency will eventually be added.
I don't believe you (or a lot of people in this thread) understand the definition of beta. Beta is the point where the game is nearly finished. So at the point of beta, there are no new gameplay additions. Maybe some parts here and there but mostly just bug fixes. Alpha is where the game itself is heavily modified and different gameplay aspects are added/altered. Such as adding the basis of a career mode .