Traveling to Mars might have changed from a mere human fascination to a survival necessity, or at least that’s what the famous physicist turned apocalypse warning system Stephen Hawking thinks! He just bumped up the deadline for humans to leave Earth to within the next 100 years or be prepared to go extinct due to climate change, overpopulation, disease and artificial intelligence.
Hawking previously said that humans had about 1,000 years left on the planet. Even ten centuries is a blip in the grand timeline of the universe, and for humans, it is equivalent to getting a few weeks’ notice before Mother Earth kicks us to the curb.
However, in the latest BBC’s Expedition New Earth documentary, Hawking thinks that this might be the last human generation on our planet and warns that humans must colonize Mars within the next century, a single human lifetime, if they want to have any hope of survival.
Hawking seemed hopeful about the prospect of living on another planet and revealed the technological and scientific advances that can help humans and other life survive on other planets.
According to BBC, the documentary will show
“Hawking’s ambition isn’t as fantastical as it sounds—that science fact is closer to science fiction than we ever thought.”
Already many companies are gearing up to land humans on Mars, so Hawking’s remarks might not be as outlandish as it seems. Boeing has recently proposed a deep space explorer, UAE has planned to establish a city on Mars by 2117, China aims to land on Mars by 2020 and even Obama has vowed to colonize Mars by 2030. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has also planned to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars within the next ten years, and NASA is already training a group of 6 astronauts to survive on the surface of Mars.
But many skeptics have frowned upon the suggestion, such as columnist Eric Mack in his article on Forbes. Mack thinks that fixing Earth is a more plausible prospect then moving to inhospitable places like Mars or the Moon.
“Just cleaning up our own mess and starting over by rising from the rubble seems more practical and more affordable than learning new methods of growing food or surviving radiation poisoning on Mars”, he wrote.
The columnist also added that
“somehow, the grass is always greener for some people, even when it’s on a dead Red Planet.”
What are your views on the prospect or rather the need to colonize Mars? Comment below!