21st century ...

2028 timeline contents

2028 - The International Space Station is decommissioned | Printed electronics are ubiquitous |
UK population reaches 70m | Manned fighter planes are being phased out and replaced with UAVs | Amputees can regrow lost limbs

 

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2028

The International Space Station is decommissioned

The International Space Station was constructed from 1998 to 2012. Its operational lifetime was originally planned to be until 2020, but with extra funding was extended to 2028. This date was chosen to mark the 30th anniversary of the first Russian component to be launched.

Like its predecessor - Space Station Mir - it is ditched in the Pacific Ocean.

Some modules of the Russian Orbital Segment are salvaged before the de-orbiting takes place. These are used as the basis for a new station, known as the Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex.*

 

Credit: NASA

 

 

Printed electronics are ubiquitous

The printed electronics market has seen exponential growth. By now, it has ballooned to over $300 billion globally - even overtaking the silicon integrated circuit industry.*

This technology began with a small number of niche, high-end products. It expanded rapidly in the 2010s, thanks to plummeting costs and improved production methods. By the 2020s it had exploded into the mainstream – creating a whole new generation of ultra-thin electronics.

Today, these have such low fabrication costs that they are ubiquitous, being present in countless everyday business and consumer applications. Many previously bulky and heavy devices can now be folded, stored or carried as easily as sheets of paper. This includes flexible TV displays that can be rolled or hung like posters, wearable mobile phones, electronic newspapers with moving pictures, disposable netbooks, "smart" packaging and labels with animated text, signage in retail outlets that can be updated shop-wide at the touch of a button.*

Multimedia players with expandable, fold-out touchscreens are especially popular. Even low-end models are now the size and weight of credit cards and can easily fit inside a wallet. With petabytes of storage, gigapixels of screen resolution and superfast transfer speeds, they are millions of times more powerful than iPods of previous decades. They are also completely wireless - no cables or physical connections of any kind are required, and music can be enjoyed using wireless earphones.

 

 

 

UK population reaches 70 million

Britain will soon become the most populous country in Europe, overtaking both Germany and France. This is mainly due to vast numbers of immigrants. Combined with a shrinking labour force, this is putting an enormous strain on public services - especially in London, which has born the brunt of this increase.

The East End has been transformed in recent years, becoming almost a whole new city within London, and beginning to rival the West End. Vast areas of land have been redeveloped with hundreds of new residential developments, office towers, retail masterplans, green spaces and public areas - all built to the highest environmental standards.

Source: Office for National Statistics

 

 

Manned fighter planes are being phased out and replaced with UAVs

By this date, the A-10 Thunderbolt II has been replaced completely by the F-35 Lightning II - which itself becomes one of the last remaining manned fighter planes in the US military. The F-35 will remain in operation until the 2040s, eventually being replaced by a new generation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) controlled by advanced AI.

 

 

 

Amputees can regrow lost limbs

Drugs are now available that can stimulate human cells to regrow entire limbs.* By switching off a particular gene known as P21, adult mammalian cells can be induced to behave like regenerative embryonic stem cells.*

The treatments are applied transiently during the healing process and only locally at the wound site, minimising any side effects. Further into the future, even damaged brains will be fully regenerated, using this and other methods.