https://www.packwheel.com/#

Within 25 years we will see data rates in the Gbps from moon missions and 10′s of Mbps from Mars. Space agencies will build global optical ground terminals on the same scale that they have for Radio frequency communications.

There will be a revolution in ground based astronomy – the ability of ground based telescopes to compensate for the blurring effects of atmosphere will improve by leaps and bounds- the new Thirty Meter Telescope will approach the resolution of a 30meter space telescope for wavelengths approaching the visible spectrum for some observational targets.

Spectroscopic Chemical analysis of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets will become more and more common – opening up the possibility of finding the chemical signatures of life on planets in another solar system.

Computing will continue to advance forward- progressively more and more computer electronic integrated circuits will be replaced with integrated photonic components, possibly with all optical computers existing in 25 years.

There may be a brief period where we slow down relative to Moores law, but we will likely exceed it as Integrated photonic technology hits its stride. What that will mean for society is anyone’s guess… Right now my home computer has more computing power than the world class supercomputers of the 90′s– could anyone in 1990 have predicted that in 2020 an out of date cell phone would have 5.3 billion transistors on its cpu? Maybe, but would they have predicted all the changes to daily life that would bring?

Quantum computing will progress, revolutionizing a subset of computing applications.

Finally, I hope that fusion power is perfected in the next 25 years – because if it isn’t, I am afraid the predictions for 50 years from now are extremely grim…

This is the rosiest scenario I predict for the next 1-2 decades- the far darker projection- and increasingly likely projection-I will save for another time.

I wasn’t expecting the use of pack-robots in geology, though. Nifty!

So much has changed in geology over my career it makes my head spin and it is mostly due to advancing technology. I stopped doing field work shortly before the GPS signal was made available to civilian use. How that has changed mapping and sample collection is amazing. I used to make maps at a big map table with T-squares, stencils, and ink pens that always stained my fingers. Now it is three dimensional computer drafting and GIS software. I used to measure the orientation of rock layers using my trusty Brunton compass. Now there are apps for my phone where all I have to do is put the phone against the rock and push a button. These apps even collect all the data for a location and does the 3D statistics as well. I used to have to go to the USGS library and search for air photos, then wait a few weeks after I ordered them before I could get to work. Now I just go to Google Earth. The USGS also has all of their geologic maps in an easy to use viewer where I can search an area and download the maps I want, or bring them into my GIS program as vector files.

But you asked about the future.

Artificial Intelligence is already making inroads. I recently read about a test of super computing in mineral exploration. This is how it usually works: A company will be interested in a known mine site in the hopes of finding more ore. A geologist, or more likely a team, will be handed a huge amount of information: reports, maps, cross-sections, core logs, geophysical studies, drill core, samples, pictures, multi-element assays, and more. It takes months to years to pour through this information. The goal is to come up with “targets,” trying to figure out the best place to drill and test the model the geologist have come up with. The study took information like this, put it all into the computer and asked it where to drill. In a short period of time the computer spat out several potential targets. Most of them matched what the geology team came up with but a few were novel. And they yielded positive results when drilled.

When I was doing field work, it was always nice to have an assistant. Not only for the company on a long traverse but to help carry the samples. Have you seen the Boston Dynamics robots? In the future, these things will be following geologists in the field like an obedient dog. They’ll carry samples, equipment, lunch, and the beer:30 needs. They’ll also have the analytic tools the mars rovers have. No need to haul all those samples! just zap it with a laser and get your data. They’ll have attached drones that will look around for interesting outcrops or for bears. If coupled with AI, the geologist will probably just hang out in the truck.

LIDAR is already changing the profession quickly. Being able to see the ground by stripping away the vegetation allows observation of surface subtleties that was impossible before. As the coverage of LIDAR mapping grows, so will the discoveries. Apple announced a future phone with LIDAR. So you could go into a mine and just wave the phone around and get a high resolution scan of the tunnel as you go. The mapping drones in the movie Prometheus are not far off.

Finally, Virtually Reality. Geologists will not even have to go into the mine or out in the field. The robot with lidar, multi spectral cameras, analytic ability, and AI will just feed it all back to the camp, or the jeep, or my little office here in the basement. And that’ll save money and time. But it’ll also be sad. There is nothing as fun as wandering the desert, getting lost, turning a corner and finding something amazing.

In the back time, I would have gladly engaged in speculation in response to what you asked. But I know enough now to not indulge in any such prognostication.

The future is always full of surprises. And never more so than today.