Weyland Industries Timeline

A TRADITION OF INNOVATION
From Peter Weyland’s first commercially viable cybernetic android to the invention of the atmospheric processor, Weyland Industries has continued to innovate and works towards the realisation of a better world. Over the years, our unique solutions, including a myriad of firsts, have served customers, communities and governments across the globe and helped address many of the universe’s most challenging problems.

OCTOBER 1ST, 1990 – A MAVERICK IS BORN
Peter Weyland is born in Mumbai, India to an Oxford-educated Professor of Comparative Mythology and a self-taught engineer.
(Notes: Weyland’s parentage highlights his upper class background, as well as a childhood steeped in mythology, such as the stories of the Olympians and Prometheus. His parents seem erudite, capable, and worldly. Weyland’s father is self-taught, and his talent seems to rub off on the young Peter.)

OCTOBER 1ST, 2004 – PETER WEYLAND TURNS 14
Days after his 14th birthday, Peter Weyland is granted a Method Patent for a synthetic trachea constructed entirely of synthetically-engineered stem cells. It is his 12th registered patent to date.
(Notes: Weyland’s intellectual and engineering gifts are established at a young age. Real life parallels include the nuclear scientist, Taylor Wilson – born in 1994. At 14 he became the world’s youngest person to have built a working fusor. Wilson hosted a TED Talk presentation on his work, which you can see here.)

MARCH 27TH, 2015 – A TRULY RENEWABLE ENERGY
Weyland Industries launches first industrialised space mission to install solar panels that align and move in Earth’s orbital plane but at an axial tilt, imitating a permanent summer solstice. The renewable energy gathered in the months following the expedition made Peter Weyland his first billion.
(Notes: At the age of 25, Weyland has made a permanent mark on the world, as well as his first billion. Technology is already far past our own real-world capabilities, but recall Ridley Scott’s words when dealing with technology as seen in Alien: “The idea of spending really prolonged periods in space -say, of up to three years- is inconceivable and at the moment only exists in fantasies such as Alien.” Scott also referred to the FTL tech of the Nostromo and cryo-chambers as being almost tongue-in-cheek due to their fantastic elements.)

JUNE 30TH, 2015 – INITIAL ROUND OF CAPITAL INVESTMENT
Following Weyland’s success with solar panels, Weyland Industries receives funding from a trio of major venture capital firms.
(Note: Weyland Industries isn’t top dog yet, but is gaining influence, prestige, and power. The company seems set on devouring the firms that initially gave it a financial boost.)

FEBRUARY 2, 2016 – WEYLAND REVERSE GLOBAL WARMING
Using a precursor to the atmospheric processor of his own invention, Peter Weyland is able to generate a localised synthetic atmosphere above the polar ice cap, effectively ending global warming.
(Notes: If you wanted to pair up Prometheus and Alien with Blade Runner, you may have a problem here. The 2019 world of Blade Runner is blighted by atmospheric pollution and acid rain. It’s best to consider the films as spiritual siblings, rather than inter-related movies. Though a piece of trivia on the Prometheus home release has Weyland talk of his mentor, allegedly Tyrell, producer Charles de Lauzrikia outed it as a joke.)

JULY 17TH, 2016 – A YOUNG KNIGHT
At the age of 26, Peter Weyland becomes one of the youngest people to ever achieve knighthood.

DECEMBER 10TH, 2017 – NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Sir Peter Weyland is honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary atmospheric work over the polar ice cap.

DECEMBER 19TH, 2017 – WEYLAND REVIVES JIMO
Using capital from his 2015 success, Weyland acquires copyrights to technology developed by NASA’s innovative but poorly funded Project Prometheus. With Weyland’s significantly augmented funding for the project, JIMO became a reality and proves the existence of simple life in Europa’s ocean.
(Notes: JIMO is an acronym for Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, a proposed spacecraft that was to explore the moons of Jupiter. The real-life project lost funding in 2005. Project Prometheus is also a real NASA project, established in 2003 and cancelled in 2005. The proposed Prometheus ship was to be a nuclear electric rocket.
Concerning Europa, Scott said a few years back: “They got me going on about this wonderful planet that is out near the big gas, you know those massive gas columns we discovered about 20 years ago? Just to the side of that there’s this wonderful planet called Europa. Around that is Io and Zeta II Reticuli. We’re going back to Zeta II Reticuli.”
Here, Scott is confusing Europa for a planet among the Pillars of Creation, whereas it’s a moon of Jupiter. Zeta II Reticuli is of course the system from Alien. As for private companies becoming space pioneers…)

JUNE 1, 2022 – CURE FOR THE COMMON CANCER
Scientists from the Health Division identify the genetic chain of events for 98% of cancers. Using genetically-altered cells as well as elements found beyond Earth’s heavens, Weyland successfully deploys an effective cure for almost all cancers.

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2023 – NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Sir Peter Weyland is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine for his cancer cure.

FEBRUARY 28TH, 2023 – FOUNDATIONS
In a now legendary TED Talk, Sir Peter Weyland clarifies his vision for Weyland Industries, laying the groundwork for the next 50 years of Building Better Worlds:

“We are the gods now…”

AUGUST 5TH, 2023 – CYBERNETIC INDIVIDUAL PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 8,128,899 for Method and Apparatus for cybernetic individuals in for use in scientific and industrial environments.
(Notes: Further distancing itself as a direct relative of Blade Runner, cybernetic beings have yet to materialise, whereas in Blade Runner replicants are already utilised for off-world colony work and interstellar warfare.)

MAY 10TH, 2024 – RIFLING RECTIFICATION
Weyland military engineers make first significant improvements to rifling technology since the 19th century, tripling speed and accuracy of projectiles. Exact rifling pattern and twist rate remain classified.
(Notes: From environmental saviour and biology genius, Weyland moves into weaponry. The dichotomy in roles reveals Weyland’s emerging unscrupulous approach to business – if it sells, manufacture it. Additionally, could this be the birth of the pulse rifle?)

SEPTEMBER 6TH, 2024 – HOLOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT SIMULATOR
Weyland Industries makes first foray into the luxury goods market with its holographic Environment Simulator. It is the first HES able to accurately recreate the aesthetic mood and sounds of any place in the known world, as well as provide live video feed from any calibrated receiver.
(Notes: Such a device appeared in Aliens, whilst Ripley awaits her hearing. It is a rather low-fi device in the 1986 film, perhaps a cheaper model; many old facilities and clinics in Europe boast antiquated technology, as do other places around the rest of the world. Another HES appears in William Gibson’s Alien III script, simulating a forest environment in which Newt relaxes before being shipped off to Earth and out of the story.)

SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2024 – THE WEYLAND STORM RIFLE
Weyland Industries introduces first rifle able to track targets from over 500 klicks away, as well as determine a target’s health, physique and whether they can be locked down.

JANUARY 7TH, 2025 – DAVID 1
Weyland manufactures the first advanced android prototype model of its kind. He is affectionately called David, a name Sir Peter Weyland had initially reserved for his own human son.
(Notes: The genesis of Ash and Bishop, David is born. It appears that Weyland’s work life has interfered with his personal life; either he has lost a child in infancy, or has resolved, somewhat elegiacally, to refrain from relationships and procreation. Weyland emerges as an Eldon Tyrell-figure, though with a measure of empathy for his creation that Tyrell utterly lacks.)

MARCH 22ND, 2026 – ADVANCED POLYURETHANE COMPOUND PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 9,158,239 for a chemical composition of classified properties able to almost perfectly replicate the biological features and textures of human skin.

JUNE 3RD, 2026 – AUTO-ADJUST CROSSHAIRS PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 10,445,075 for Method and Apparatus for self-adjusting crosshairs that auto-process windage, Coriolis effect, trajectory, etc., eliminating the need for spotters and mathematical formulas.

SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2026 – WEYLAND INDUSTRIES + GENENTECH
Weyland acquires Genentech, significantly bolstering the company’s biotech holdings.
(Notes: A first step for Weyland to become the corporate octopus of later years. By the time of Alien, Scott had imagined that “the world would have been divided into three parts.” This world is dominated by mega-corporations that function as de facto governments. Two parts of this new world were named in lore, specifically in Ron Cobb’s designs and the Nostromo crew dossiers, as the United Americas -the merging of South and North America into one entity- and The Third World Empire, which is the political and corporate merging of Britain with Asia.)

NOVEMBER 18TH, 2026 – WEYLAND TAKES OVER KEPLER MISSION
Weyland privatises NASA’s famous Kepler mission, increases its funding 10-fold and within the year and discovers 6,546 more bio-compatible planets.

JANUARY 1ST, 2028 – DAVID 2
Weyland makes significant adjustments to the David android prototype, facilitating David’s first interaction with humans. This initial meeting is very promising.

MARCH 31ST, 2028 – $100 BILLION IN FIVE SHORT YEARS
Weyland Industries becomes first company in history to achieve a market capitalisation of $100 billion in five years.

MAY 20TH, 2028 – STASIS FUNCTION DISCOVERED
Weyland labs in San Francisco discover the body’s ability to hypersleep – the complete cessation of life processes, which can be restarted when stasis is removed. The search for a practical application begins.
(Notes: Obviously, this lays the groundwork for the stasis tubes as seen throughout the series.)

AUGUST 9TH, 2029 – ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSOR PATENTED. 
Weyland Industries earns patent number 11,280,599 for Method and Apparatus for a device that enhances the capacity of an extraterrestrial planetary environment to support life; effectively the first fully automated atmospheric processor. This patent is expected to make our founder’s famous boast a reality: “There are other worlds than this one, and if there is no air to breathe, we will simply have to make it.”
(Notes: In Aliens, Ripley seems to see an atmosphere processor for the first time. Burke explains: “They’re completely automated. We manufacture them, by the way.” The processors have been around for over 100 years by the time of Aliens, but they have perhaps not existed on the scale of the one seen at Hadley’s Hope, which can sustain the entire planetoid alone. Furthermore, many people live their lives without being exposed to certain types of technology, so it’s feasible that Ripley hasn’t seen one before, or perhaps just not one of H.H.’s gigantic magnitude.)

SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2029 – WEYLAND ACQUIRES CERN
Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) runs out of government funding. Weyland acquires the organisation as well as their Large Hadron Collider and other facilities.
(Notes: The privatisation of the world seems to be in sway. In an 1984 interview, Ridley Scott said in regards to the corporate worlds of Alien and Blade Runner: “Here you see a large corporation that does something in one area buying up another corporation that specialises in an entirely different field. Obviously two separate sides of the conglomerate world -perhaps engineering and biochemistry- will eventually merge, just as I think industries will develop their own independent space programs.”)

DECEMBER 12TH, 2029 – WEYLAND WINS PATENT SUIT
After years of litigation, Weyland wins the David patent lawsuit against the Japanese start-up Yutani Corporation, effectively protecting the investments of both Weyland Industries and its shareholders.
(Notes: The importance of Weyland’s encounters with Yutani doesn’t need illuminating. At some point post-2093 and pre-2122, the two companies merge to form Weyland-Yutani. “The owners of the Nostromo are Japanese,” explained Scott in 1979. The Eastern look expanded to the Nostromo’s space suits. A Japanese influence was later more prevalent in Alien 3.)

JULY 27TH, 2030 – HYPERSLEEP CHAMBERS PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 12,004,556 for Method and Apparatus for a device than can initiate, monitor, and terminate hypersleep. HC’s revolutionise space travel, permitting increasingly longer, more advanced missions and enabling unprecedented discovery.

AUGUST 10TH, 2031 – LUNA
Terraforming begins on Luna with plans for multiple settlements.
(Note: the first terraforming project takes place on our closest natural satellite, the Moon/Luna. On January 7th, 2092, Ellen Ripley is born on the Lunar base. Around about this time a virus known as XMB is loose on the facility, and Ripley grows up in a quarantine zone, according to the Nostromo Crew Dossiers from Alien.)

APRIL 3RD, 2032 – MAJOR SECURITY ACQUISITIONS
Weyland acquires Northrop Grumman, Boeing, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin. These major acquisitions significantly bolsters multinational defense, security, and aerospace technology holdings.

MAY 20TH, 2032 – FTL TRAVEL MADE POSSIBLE
Weyland scientists discover the inverse relationship between velocity and the flow of time, making the long sought-after concept of faster than light travel a reality. The search for practical application begins.
(Notes: Well how else do you think the Nostromo and Sulaco got around?)

JULY 4TH, 2033 – BALLISTIC DEVELOPMENT
Weyland creates 5.56 millimeter round made of metals mined from Gliese 581, capable of travelling at max velocity in any atmosphere or range.

OCTOBER 4TH, 2033 – MILLIONTH EMPLOYEE HIRED
His name is Dr. Richard Post and he serves as Chief Statistician to the Electronics Division.

JANUARY 17TH, 2034 – HELIADES
Weyland Industries introduces the first FTL-capable SEV (space exploration vehicle.)
(Notes: In Greek myth, the Heliades -‘children of the sun’- were the offspring of Helios the sun god and the Oceanid Clymene, the latter of whom is also the mother of several Titans – including Prometheus)

MAY 11TH, 2035 – NSF LIFTS RESTRICTIONS ON ANDROIDS
The National Science Foundation (NSF) lifts commercial restrictions on the commercial use of David androids.

JUNE 30TH, 2035 – DAVID 3
After android regulations are lifted, the third generation David is deployed internally to test human acceptance of cybernetic individuals. Results are encouraging.

JULY 21ST, 2035 – NEW OFFICES OPENED
Weyland Industries opens several new offices across the globe, expanding corporate presence to Greece, Antarctica, El Salvador, and South Africa to name a few.
(Notes: In Alien, Ripley mentions an “Antarctica mission control” as the Nostromo attempts to land on Earth – before they realise that they’re in the wrong system.)

AUGUST 25TH, 2036 – EXPLORERS ACADEMY OPENED
Weyland Industries launches the Explorers Academy – an alternative grad school for underprivileged college students interested in the fields of biotech, nanotech, cybernetics and terraforming. Top graduates of the program are offered positions at Weyland Industries.

DECEMBER 15TH, 2037 – FORTUNE 500
Fortune 500 names Weyland Industries number one on their list “10 best companies to work for”.

DECEMBER 21ST, 2037 – DISCOVERY OF THE OUTER VEIL
Weyland astronomers note an area of space appearing very rich in minerals and other natural resources. Weyland expected to travel there within the century.

JULY 4TH, 2038 – WEYLAND SUPPORTS VETERANS
Weyland Industries becomes chief employer of Asian Conflict veterans, supplying 35% with steady work.

MARCH 2ND, 2039 – AUTO-COMPENSATION PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 13,345,075 for Method and Apparatus for an add-on feature to Weyland Storm, capable of compensating for composition, density, pressure and refractive index of any atmosphere.

MAY 28TH, 2039 – GJ 667CC
Using the Weyland Atmospheric Processor, the first functional and breathable atmosphere is produced on planet GJ 667CC, clearing the way for further terraforming activities on other planets.

Weyland’s terraforming colony on Mars.

MAY 14TH, 2039 – DISCOVERY OF ACHERON LV-426
Weyland astronomers discover multiple moons and a ringed planet just outside the Zeta 2 Reticuli system, which are possibly able to support life.  Weyland expects to travel there within the century.
(Notes: the importance of this place should be obvious. The Weyland website spells Acheron wrong, referring to it as Archeron.)

APRIL 1ST, 2042 – DAVID 4
David 4 becomes the first commercially available model of the David series. He is eventually expected to improve work-flow and efficiency at offices and homes across the world.

AUGUST 18TH, 2042 – ESTABLISHMENT OF HD 85512 B
Weyland Industries awarded government contract to build and maintain HD 85512 B Class E Correctional Unit. Prisoners from Earth and other facilities are successfully relocated, and many have been rehabilitated into society.
(Notes: It’s unknown if this refers specifically to the prison colony on Fiorina 161 from Alien 3. Either way, it establishes off-world penal colonies, and Weyland Corp’s involvement in their establishment.)

NOVEMBER 20TH, 2042 – WEYLAND SUPPORTS THE FUTURE
Weyland Industries writes $5 billion cheque to Little Explorers – a charity dedicated to the education of troubled middle school students interested in science and technology.

APRIL 19TH, 2051 – RT01 GROUP TRANSPORT
Weyland Industries makes essential updates to on-planet transport. The new vehicle is capable of traversing any known terrain and has virtually no weight limit for cargo, passengers and equipment.

FEBRUARY 14TH, 2052 – ATV NR6 PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 14,524,002 for Method and Apparatus for first manned land vehicle capable of negotiating vertical surfaces. This technology permits Weyland scientists and terraforming teams to reach previously inaccessible destinations.

JULY 7TH, 2052 – DAVID 5
Weyland makes significant intellectual and emotional update to the David android, further increasing human acceptance.

AUGUST 1ST, 2055 – TOP COMPANY EXECUTIVE FOR WOMEN
NAFE (National Association for female executives) names Weyland Industries a Top 50 Company for Executive Women.

JANUARY 29TH, 2056 – POWER LOADER PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 15,725,924 for Method and Apparatus for a mechanised exo-skeleton used for lifting and moving heavy objects such as crates and vehicle weaponry.
(Notes: The famous power loader, of course, has its beginnings here.)

MAY 6TH, 2057 – LIFEBOAT PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 15,999,127 for Method and Apparatus for an ejectable luxury pod able to sustain one human life for up to 50 years.
(Notes: The origins of craft such as the Narcissus begins here. Vicker’s escape pod in Prometheus is certainly of the luxury variety.)

JULY 22ND, 2059 – PORTABLE DECONTAMINATION PACK
Weyland introduces unique expedition security apparatus able to decontaminate indoor and outdoor environments. Apparatus mines surrounding air for flammable compounds, making it ultra light-weight as well as self-replenishing.

AUGUST 9TH, 2060 – BROCA DIALECTICAL IMPLANT
Weyland Industries introduces revolutionary, game-changing language tool. It is the first ever to require no actual learning on the consumer’s behalf.
(Note: Strange how Weyland relies on David to talk to the Engineer in an early dialect, rather than learning it himself via this implant. And stranger that David actively learns throughout the journey, rather than through a download.)

SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2061 – MEDPOD 7201 PATENTED
Weyland Industries earns patent number 16,572,092 for Method and Apparatus for the first fully-automated diagnosis and surgical station.

FEBRUARY 26TH, 2062 – DAVID 6
Only 7% of humans can recognise the sixth generation of David as a cybernetic individual.

DECEMBER 1ST, 2063 – SPECTAGRAPH
Weyland Industries earns patent number 17,900,353 for Method and Apparatus for an antigravity device that 3D live-maps any foreign terrain, revolutionising the pre-process of terraforming and developing new colonies.
(Note: Obviously, Fifield’s “puppies”.With this device, you would reckon that the Company would have picked up the derelict craft on LV-426, just prior to colonising it in Aliens. However, the device perhaps only maps out the area where the colony itself will be situated. The derelict is indicated as being over a week’s worth of travel time away, way past “the Ilium range”. Additionally, LV-426’s atmosphere is apparently troublesome for the Company’s communications, and perhaps mapping, technology. Finally, the spectagraph as seen in Prometheus are small, localised devices with limited range.)

AUGUST 11, 2064 – ADVANCED SE SUITS
Significantly upgraded space suit includes a variety of Weyland patented features, such as cadium exo-skeleton; infor display with mission details; vitals; environmental stats and more.
(Notes: the suits worn by the adventurers in Prometheus.)

JUNE 23RD, 2065 – S.P.W. MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Sir Peter Weyland Memorial Library built in Washington, DC.
(Notes: A memorial library that opens decades before Weyland’s projected time of death.

NOVEMBER 20TH, 2065 – TRANSPLANETARY PEACEKEEPING
As Weyland Industries expands their terraforming activities and colonial endeavours, the company is approached by the US government to begin work on the foundation of a colonial peacekeeping force trained or populated by marines in the event of future conflict.
(Notes: Obviously, this is the birth of the Colonial Marines, as seen in Aliens. According to the Alien crew profiles, Kane was educated at a military school. Obviously, this would not have been the Colonial Marines, which belongs to the United Americas. Both Dallas and Parker served, with Parker serving in the United Americas Outer Rim Defense Fleet.)

APRIL 7TH, 2066 – DAVID JOINS THE WORKFORCE
As production costs for the David series decreases, Weyland Industries is increasingly able to extend those savings to everyday customers, leading to remarkable proliferation of the product.

JULY 6TH, 2068 – DAVID 7
Weyland builds and successfully deploys thousands of Seventh Generation Davids into workplaces across the universe. Human acceptance of David 7 reaches an all-time high thanks to Weyland’s highly classified emotional encoding technology. David can accurately replicate most human emotions down to the tiniest nuance while consistently achieving all mission objectives.

JUNE 30TH, 2070 – FDA APPROVES MEDPOD FOR AT HOME USE
Since FDA approval, one dozen have been produced with tens of thousands on back order.

MAY 13TH, 2071 – OLYMPICS 
Weyland Industries becomes World Olympic Partner and official “Cybernetics Company” of the Olympic movement through 2091.

AUGUST 16TH, 2071 – SYNAPSE REESTABLISHER
Weyland Industries earns patent number 18,364,003 for Method and Apparatus for device able to temporarily restart brain activity of deceased individuals.
(Notes: We see this device put to use in Prometheus on the decapitated Engineer head. Unfortunately for the crew, the cells they revive are flooded with the Engineers’ bioweapon, and the revived cells explode.)

MARCH 9TH, 2071 – WEYLAND REORGANISES
Weyland Industries consolidates all products and solutions into seven verticals: health, transportation, energy, electronics, terraforming, security and cybernetics.

JANUARY 1ST, 2073 – PROJECT PROMETHEUS UNDERWAY
Based on recent classified findings by Weyland researchers, the company determines the exact coordinates of a new destination for long-time pet project: Project Prometheus. New round of investment is immediately opened and mission planning enters full swing.

“The adventure begins…”