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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 10 December 2010, is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2010 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews quantum computing technologies and DNA-based molecular computing for onboard supercomputing on future spacecraft. It forecasts ion-trap quantum computers within 10 years, simple DNA tile computing within 20 years, and self-repairing DNA computers on a 40-year horizon.
“The Advance”7 pages
a b Sp J"r _b~d) J "t;.-G' "l:-C "G"\ T-A C·c ,C:C C-G ,f:G T-G. CG .•,A•t IJ...-17 A-- DNA G enzyme~- •••3 A • Qr,garni UNCLASSIFIED, /P8"1 8PPl!IJIIL 1!1!11!! 811Llf s~rder ~ody "c ; --• Substrata ' Ongarn, dG .. Figure 27. Deoxyribozyme-based molecular walker and origami prescriptive landscape. a, The NICK3.4A311 spider consists of a streptavidin core, with a 20-base single-stranded DNA (green) that positions the spider at the start, and three deoxyribozyme legs. b, The 8-17 deoxyribozyme cleaves its substrate at an RNA base, creating two shorter products (respectively 7 and 11 bases in length), Dissociation from these products allows legs to associate with the next substrate. c, Spider actions: after release by a 27-base single-stranded DNA trigger, the spider follows the substrate at a STOP position. d, Schematic of the DNA origami landscape with positions A-E labelled; track EABD is shown with I indicating a topographical imaging marker. e, A representative origami landscape showing the START position (green), the substrate track (brown), STDP and CONTROL sites (red), and a topographical imaging marker (blue). rA, ribonucleotide position at which cleavage occurs; dA, deoxyribonucleotide within non-chimeric and non-cleavable analogue of substrate at a STOP position. (123) DISCUSSION The first operating quantum computers capable of solving real-world problems will commence within 10 years and be based on ion-trap technology. This is entirely based on the amount of research resources dedicated to the problem and the fact that there appear to only be engineering challenges remaining. Atomic and ion traps require very substantial cryogenic and EM shielding systems and are not practical for space travel. Pure photonic technologies available today have difficulty with both miniaturization and scalability. However, the amount of active work in the field makes a disruptive advance likely in the 10-year timeframe. Optical computers will likely be realized in the 20-year horizon; however, the very powerful promise of quantum computing will still have issues with photon loss in any solid state device. The 40-year horizon will see photon technologies play an essential but supporting role in distributed quantum computing. The realized systems will have radiation tolerance advantages over current semiconductor technology and are likely to augment or even replace general purpose computing devices for space travel. Hybrid designs utilizing arrays of quantum dots and photon communication channels will be an option for space travel supercomputing on the 40-year timescale. These systems operate at attainable temperatures without cryonics, and require no more shielding than humans. It is likely that spintronics will be an essential ingredient. 45 UNCLASSIFIED/ ,<r;QA. Qr;r;Iliil.tik Wliilii 8HL¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 54 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.