LOS ANGELES – Artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear power are amongst the important thing technologies Lockheed Martin sees as vital for future space missions.
Through a project called Destination: Space 2050, Lockheed Martin executives are exploring, for instance, how AI could assist scientific exploration of locations where communications with distant sensors could be disrupted by high latency.
In that sort of environment, “you actually can’t interact with the robotic sensors,” David Lackner, Lockheed Martin senior manager strategy and business development, said during a June 28 webinar. “You’ve got to have something that’s super autonomous that may take care of unknown unknowns. We’ve got some really interesting causal autonomy tools that … allow the AI to be super smart about running into something that it hasn’t encountered before.”
AI also has vital applications for remote-sensing data, said Aura Roy, Lockheed Martin deputy program manager for Multi-slit Solar Explorer mission, often known as MUSE.
Data gathered by lots of or hundreds of satellites traveling in several orbits could provide a “vast amount of knowledge which could be beyond the power of any variety of human operators to parse through,” Roy said. “The goal is to make use of AI to find out truly optimal and trusted decisions from that raw data,” which is probably not intuituve.
In the longer term, “we’ll must depend on a AI to enhance human decision makers in any respect levels of command with advanced AI data processing and course-of-action generation that may support all kinds of operations,” Roy said.
Quantum Computing
As well as, Lockheed Martin’s Space 2050 report focuses on quantum computing, quantum communications and quantum distant sensing, technologies.
“That computing infrastructure utilizing quantum shall be there for us within the 2050 timeframe,” Lackner said.
Because of this, Lockheed Martin is developing “quantum algorithms to utilize quantum computers, quantum distant sensing and quantum communications,” Lackner said. “Specific space applications of quantum are going to be super enabling for what we wish to do.”
Nuclear Power, Crew Habitats and Mobility
Advancements in power and propulsion, including nuclear technologies, “are going to be absolutely critical by way of dramatically improving the kinds of missions which you could do and the kinds of science which you could collect,” said Kate Watts, Lockheed Martin’s vp of Mission Strategy and Advanced Capabilities for Human and Scientific Exploration. “Think high-power generation, dramatically improved ISP related to propulsion, so you’ve more maneuverability” or the power to achieve distant locations more quickly.
By 2050 more people shall be traveling to low-Earth orbit in addition to to the moon or Mars, which can create demand for habitats and vehicles to maneuver across the lunar surface.
“Once you’re on other worlds, you’ll want to have the option to maneuver around, modify things, change the surface as needed,” Watts said. “You must give the crew autonomy to administer science with machines which have capability like they do here on Earth.”
Lunar Industrial Opportunities
By 2050, “I feel we’ll see regular business delivery services from the Earth to the moon and back for each cargo or people,” said Crescent Space CEO Joe Landon. Lockheed Martin established Crescent Space earlier this 12 months to offer lunar communications and navigation services.
On the lunar surface, crews will “have the option to seek out, extract and process worthwhile resources to create fuel and to sustain life and support human operations,” Landon said.
“Every space mission today needs to be completely autonomous, has to bring all the pieces you wish with you and account for each contingency,” Landon said. “So, even the smallest missions or capabilities find yourself being very complex and dear.”
To realize Lockheed Martin’s Space 2050 vision, recent infrastructure including computational capability in cislunar space shall be needed.
Providing access to lunar cloud computing would enable each governments and personal actors to play a bigger economic role in space. As an alternative of buying large assets after which having to keep up them, buyers would as an alternative have the option to purchase capabilities as needed, Lackner said.
Lockheed Martin chosen 2050 as a goal for its technology report because that timeframe is long enough away “that we are able to truly develop disruptive technologies and disruptive capabilities,” said Nelson Pedreiro, vp at Lockheed Martin’s Space Advanced Technology Center.