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Trends collected the fantasies of futurologists and imagined what our presence in space would look like 61 more years after the first manned flight into space
Main directions of development
According to preliminary estimates, by 2030 the global space market will be £400 billion (approximately ₽40 trillion). At the moment, this is the most distant forecast, and it is not yet possible to talk about further contributions to the industry. But it is assumed that by 2081 the figure will only continue to grow. Public and private companies are entering the space industry, and they all look in the same direction of development. For the next 60 years, participants in space research set themselves six main goals:
Right now, the American rover Perseverance is looking for signs of life on Mars, the unmanned space probe New Horizons has almost left the solar system, an extremely large telescope is being built in Chile, and its “colleague” the James Webb telescope has finally reached the second Lagrange point and is already sharing the first photos. The commercial companies of the two richest people on the planet, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, are investing billions of dollars in space development and developing technologies for space flight. We understand what all these developments can lead to.
Private space flights
Private space travel no longer seems like a fairy tale. The first space tourist, Dennis Tito, went to the ISS back in 2001. Since then, seven more people have become travelers. One of them, American Charles Simonyi, has been in space twice.
In the future, the full development of this industry is expected. NASA plans to open up the tourism sector on the ISS and send up to two short missions a year to the station. The agency is collaborating with private companies and is already conducting commercial flights into orbit with SpaceX. Three tourists, accompanied by a professional astronaut, went to the ISS on April 8, 2022.
Other private companies such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are developing suborbital spaceflight. Travelers of such a ship reach the boundary of the Earth’s atmosphere, but do not go into orbit and land approximately 10 minutes after the start.
Ships for space tourism are just beginning to develop. It can be assumed that by 2081, rocket flights will become as commonplace as airplane flights. People will be able to fly around the Earth on weekends, go to the ISS on vacation (or not to the ISS), soar in zero gravity and enjoy the view through the porthole.
Back to the moon
The first expedition went to the moon in 1969. After 50 years, space researchers are again looking in the direction of this direction. The Moon is relatively close to the Earth – closer than all other space objects. You can send astronauts to it and monitor how a long stay on the satellite affects their health. This will help to carefully plan flights to distant planets.
On the Moon, situations of lack of earthly resources can be simulated. The researchers will learn to replenish fuel, oxygen and products using only the materials that are on the surface of the satellite. It will also come in handy for further travel to distant planets. A person will learn independence in space: he will not need to constantly bring resources from Earth, which is especially important when colonizing planets outside the solar system.
By 2081, the Moon may become a transfer point between the planets or function as a gas station. Astronaut Scott Kelly believes that a base will open on the Moon for ships flying to Mars. And the American writer Andy Weier is sure that the Moon can be colonized. According to him, cities will appear on the Moon earlier than on Mars, and it will become the first conquered space object.
Despite the fact that people have already visited the Earth’s satellite, its surface still contains scientific mysteries. For example, scientists are interested in water ice near the south pole of the moon. According to their assumptions, it may contain traces of life. Exploration of the surface of the moon can develop into large-scale archaeological excavations. Companies from different countries are already joining them: from Israel to Japan and India. Given the growing interest of the commercial sector in the space industry, we can expect an increase in research from private companies in the future.
Colonization of distant planets
Ian Crawford, a professor of planetary science and astrobiology at Birkbeck, thinks the colonization of Mars is quite possible, but adds that first you need to gain competencies and experience on the Moon. Discover new technologies on it and only then fly to distant planets. To successfully conquer other planets, it is necessary to study the effect of weightlessness and cosmic radiation on humans and find solutions for a comfortable life in different parts of space.
NASA adviser Ariel Waldman believes that humanity must join forces to move to Mars and other planets. She hopes that colonization will not cause much political debate and will be like migrating to another country. Jakob Lange, partner at the Bjarke Ingels Group architecture firm, thinks that people first need to answer the question: how do they want to live on other planets: to make the surrounding reality look like a science fiction movie or resemble earthly architecture?
The idea of sending people to Mars and other planets has been around for a long time, but Henry Hertzfeld, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, says we can’t talk about it until we master new technologies. It is difficult to talk about the future vision of the picture if we cannot find a way to keep a person in space for a long time. In his opinion, our future stay in outer space depends on how much budget will go into the industry and for what purposes it will be spent. The more investments there are, the faster we will master new technologies and be able to move to other planets.
Upcoming space missions
The continued success of space exploration depends on the results we get from the coming missions. We offer a list of expeditions, the results of which are worth following.
- JOICE-2022. An automatic interplanetary station of the European Space Agency will go to Jupiter and will explore the planet and its satellites for three years.
- Psyche — 2022. The space mission will go to a metallic asteroid that orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. This is an iron-nickel core, similar to the one at the center of our planet. Studying it will help to find out how terrestrial planets are formed.
- Europa Clipper — 2025. The mission will study the gas giant Jupiter’s moon Europa. Scientists plan to find out if an icy moon can support life conditions.
- Plato — 2026. The Plato Space Telescope will set off to explore exoplanets and look for yellow and orange dwarfs like our Sun.