Exascale computing serves as a powerful lens that allows us to investigate structure and dynamics at a molecular scale from diffraction images collected at the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS for short), which is one of the world’s premier x-ray Free Electron Laser facilities. We expect that exascale capabilities will have a transformative impact on our science by enabling us to analyze terabytes of imaging data from our free electron laser in quasi real time. This rapid analysis in turn provides critical feedback for our users, who can adjust data collection on-the-fly to maximize the insights derived from each experiment.