2030-2039
timeline contents

2030-2033

• NASA's Europa Clipper mission searches for life |

2030

• Global warming continues to increase | • China's nuclear stockpile exceeds 1,000 | • China's Long March 9 rocket begins lunar missions | • The 6G standard is released | • Desalination has exploded in use | • Smart grid technology is widespread in developed nations | • Coal power is phased out by Germany | • An interstellar message arrives at Luyten's Star | • AI-designed antibiotics are available on prescription | • Depression is the number one global disease burden | • Child mortality is approaching 2% globally | • The Muslim population has increased significantly | • Orbital space junk is becoming a major problem for space flight | • The UK space industry has quadrupled in size | • The Lockheed Martin SR-72 enters service | • Half of America's shopping malls have closed | • The metaverse has reached $5 trillion in size | • 8K VR headsets are common | • 100 terabyte HDDs reach consumer level | • Completion of Saudi Vision 2030 | • The entire ocean floor is mapped | • High-speed rail begins in California |

2031-2045

• Cargo Sous Terrain becomes operational in Switzerland |

2031-2035

• Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) explores the Jovian system |

2031

• Generative AI is a trillion-dollar market | • The International Space Station is deorbited | • DAVINCI+ lands on Venus | • Completion of a Morocco-UK undersea power cable | • India has begun phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) | • Much of Bangkok is being abandoned due to flooding | • Global reserves of lead are running out | • Perennial wheat and corn are becoming profitable | • Web 4.0 is transforming the Internet landscape | • Stem cell pharmacies are commonplace | • Married couples are a minority in the UK | • Chocolate is becoming a rare luxury |

2032-2037

• A transition from ICE to battery-electric shipping |

2032

• End of support date for Windows 10 | • Brisbane hosts the Summer Olympic Games | • A giant artificial island project opens in Hong Kong | • The majority of UK homes are rented | • Britain's ash trees have been wiped out by a fungal disease | • Leatherback sea turtles are on the verge of extinction | • China's space station is deorbited | • One-third of Saudi Arabia's electricity comes from solar | • Britain upgrades its nuclear-armed submarine fleet | • Transit of Mercury |

2033-2035

• Quantum computers are cracking RSA-2048 keys |

2033

• Crewed mission to Phobos | • Peak phosphorus is reached | • Hypersonic airliners are entering service | • The final phase of Britain's HS2 rail link is completed | • Lung disease in China has killed over 80 million by now | • Five-year survival rates for kidney cancer are approaching 100% | • The Hoover Dam is offline due to low water levels | • The first samples from Mars are returned to Earth |

2034-2044

• Ectogenesis is transforming reproductive rights |

2034

• Service robots number a billion worldwide | • NASA's Dragonfly spacecraft lands on Titan | • The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is launched | • EnVision makes orbital insertion at Venus | • MBR Explorer lands on asteroid 269 Justitia | • Saudi Arabia hosts the FIFA World Cup | • Australia has fully decarbonised its electricity supply | • Switzerland phases out nuclear energy | • Caribbean coral reefs are in danger of being wiped out | • Coastal erosion has destroyed hundreds of UK homes | • A major supermoon occurs |

2035-2085

• The Einstein Telescope is operational |

2035-2075

• The Very Large Hadron Collider is operational |

2035-2050

• The next ESA Large-class missions |

2035-2045

• The first definitive evidence of life beyond Earth |

2035-2040

• Establishment of the first permanent lunar base | • Russia is a global food superpower | • The RAF Typhoon is phased out and replaced by the Tempest |

2035

• Millennials are enjoying an inheritance boom | • Lion populations in Africa have declined by half | • Distributed propulsion systems are revolutionising air travel | • Self-driving vehicles dominate the roads | • Robots are dominating the battlefield | • Norway's underwater suspended tunnels are completed | • The global airline fleet has doubled | • Air accident fatalities have been largely eliminated |

2036-2060

• Breakthrough Starshot obtains images of Alpha Centauri |

2036-2045

• The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) establishes long-term human operations |

2036-2040

• Transhuman sports competitors |

2036

• Supercomputers reach the zettascale | • Hepatitis C has become a rare disease in the U.S. | • In-vitro meat is a mature industry | • Lemurs are on the brink of extinction | • China's first mission to Neptune |

2037

• Global population reaches 9 billion | • Global warming hits 1.5°C | • Total solar eclipse in Australia and New Zealand | • America's sixth-generation fighter jet enters service | • The Oxford English Dictionary 3rd edition is published |

2038

• Older computers are at risk of experiencing major software malfunctions | • NASA's Trident spacecraft arrives at Neptune | • The New Horizons probe is 100 AU from the Sun | • Two-thirds of UN member states have abolished the death penalty | • Re-emergence of Brood X cicadas | • The FIFA World Cup trophy is replaced | • Urban air mobility is a trillion-dollar industry | • The space industry exceeds $1tn worldwide | • Total solar eclipse in Australasia |

2039

• The world's first trillionaire | • Manufacturing jobs have largely disappeared in the West | • Australia's national symbol, the Koala, faces extinction | • Five-year survival rates for leukaemia are approaching 100% | • Extreme heatwaves are commonplace in the U.S. |

2040-2049 »