This is how space travel could transform our lives – and jobs – in just 50 years

The job ads of the not-so-distant future, maybe (Picture:

Dr Leah Nani Alconcel’s job title – a spacecraft engineer at the University of Birmingham – already sounds futuristic.

Yet by 2076, she reckons it’ll be as common and boring as it comes. Instead, recruiters will be seeking ‘haptic hologram makers’ or manufacturing ‘lunacycles’.

This is the future Dr Alconcel and other experts from the Royal Academy of Engineering see for humanity.

And while lots of us may not be optimistic about what’s to come, the charity’s vision is a little more optimistic – and involves living on the moon.

‘It’s the easiest place to reach, and it still takes days!’ Dr Alconcel tells Metro.

‘Communication only takes a second. If we’re going to start living off-world, the moon is the sensible place to start.’

Engineers want to get more people into the field by showing what future they can bring us closer to (Picture: Royal Academy of Engineering)

What could life look like in 50 years?

Everywhere we look, we can catch sneak peeks of what the world could look like one day.

Artemis II saw humans fly further from Earth than ever before – 248,655 miles – to the moon and back.

Despite this, about four in 10 Brits don’t expect to see regular space travel realised in our lifetimes, let alone lunar hotels, according to a new poll of 2,000 people by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Dr Alconcel is among the 60% ready for a trip to that lonely grey orb.

Initial flat-pack lunar homes will include the bare essentials, engineers predict, before becoming ‘cosy’, pet-friendly pods that will be able to replicate day and night back on Earth.

We’ll probably eat more fish up there, given the moon’s low gravity would make growing grains and other crops tricky. These could either be tinned or sent in rockets to our new planet for rearing – they’re a little easier to transport than other livestock, like cows.

Engineers think clean energy could be the norm (Picture: Royal Academy of Engineering) Designing off-world homes for lunar or Martian life will be commonplace (Picture: Royal Academy of Engineering) Four in Brits think there’s no chance we’ll be living on the moon anytime soon (Picture: Harry Parvin)

Some literal moon-walkers could be employed as ‘space power providers’.

‘You’ll design the power systems that keep a lunar settlement running through the dark: heat, light, communications, food, medicine, life-support, all of it,’ the academy’s fictional job spec says.

Or they could apply for the role of ‘lunarcycle creator’. The moon is a lumpy place, where gravity’s pull is just one-sixth as strong as it is on Earth.

‘In 2076, moon dwellers will be getting from launch to lunch via lunacycles – bicycles specially built for lunar living,’ a sample job description says.

Fashion will look different, too – we could all be wearing T-shirts that track heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. Lunar athletes will play low-gravity sports, or replicate the ones down below using artificial gravity technology.

Spacefarers will even chat with Earthlings using ‘in-brain virtual reality’ feeds and holographic video calls.

The present day is ‘precarious’, says engineer

Other prophecised futures are on the bleaker side, like tech giants saying AI will take our jobs before bringing about our doom or scientists saying climate change is inescapable.

Ben Crowther, the co-founder of LettUs Grow, a company that wants to farm crops without soil, says a greener world is still possible.

‘To be frank, we are in a precarious position,’ Crowther says, saying that thinking ahead easily brings to mind climate change and food scarcity.

‘That kind of context changes your thinking on what is important. On Earth, we can fall into the trap of viewing resources like water, electricity and land as somewhat infinite, and that is not the case.’

Back on Earth, people will be needed to design cities that can endure climate change (Picture: Royal Academy of Engineering) Holograms could be the standard (Picture: Royal Academy of Engineering)

‘Living city shapers’, as another job ad says, will design buildings and bridges that can repair themselves and cope with extreme weather and higher populations.

Crowther says that as humans go off-world, visiting places not designed for life, the way we grow, prepare and source food and water may change.

This could include growing vertical farms, where fruits and vegetables thrive in canteens, bathed in white LED lights and fed with aeroponic nutrient mists.

‘There are many reasons to be hopeful about the future,’ adds Crowther.

‘But first, we need more people involved in making this happen.’

Online searches for ‘what will the future be like’ have nearly doubled worldwide since 2020, according to Google Trends – and they keep rising.

Dr Rhys Morgan, a senior principal consultant for education and skills, says this is because people both can and want to picture a better world.

Take quantum computing, he says, a tech that uses the gnarly world of the tiniest things in the universe to make mind-boggling maths.

It could, among other things, find drugs for every disease, 3D-print human organs or help create clean energy. And scientists have already made quantum computers; they just haven’t got the hang of them yet.

‘Developments in science and technology are mind-blowing,’ adds Dr Morgan.

‘Some of the innovations being developed right now will have huge positive impacts on our future.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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