Lockheed Martin has presented its vision of space exploration until 2050. It includes quantum computing, extensive use of artificial intelligence, regular commercial flights to the Moon and nuclear power in space.
Lockheed Martin’s Space Strategy
Lockheed Martin, which is one of the leading manufacturers of space technology for NASA, held a webinar on space exploration on June 28. There, the company has presented the project Destination: Space 2050, which is actually its vision of space exploration in the coming decades.
The central place in it is occupied by the issue of receiving and processing information from spacecraft. The authors of the project note that in the future we will talk about huge amounts of information from hundreds of thousands of sensors, which people will not have direct access to due to distance and the vacuum of space.
That is why one of the main principles of the development of space systems should be maximum autonomy, which will be based on the widespread use of artificial intelligence. According to the authors of the project, it will need to be given unprecedented opportunities to make decisions independently.
Quantum computing and flights to the Moon
However, artificial intelligence is not the only amazing element provided by Destination: Space 2050. Quantum computing should play an equally important role in processing data from space. This is all due to the same huge amounts of information that need to be processed as soon as possible.
Although the practical use of quantum states for computing cannot yet reach practicality, Lockheed Martin is confident that this will become a reality in the future. They are already developing algorithms for quantum.
Another challenge that Lockheed Martin believes they will face in the next decades will be an increase in energy consumption in space. It will be associated with the transition to new engines with a much larger specific impulse. The company plans to develop full-fledged nuclear power to supply them.
Finally, the company sees the creation of permanent settlements on the Moon as another direction of development until 2050. Maintaining their viability will require the start of regular commercial flights to our moon.
According to spacenews.com
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