If humanity is to survive as a species we need to start colonizing outer space. At some point a natural disaster of cataclysmic proportions will strike our home world, and with such magnitude that human kind will not survive it.
This is the doomsday prophecy of Professor Stephen Hawking. "The long term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet", he warns. Our technology isn’t advanced enough at the present time to sustain off-world colonization. But in an interview with the BBC Hawking predicts that scientists will one day know all the laws that govern the universe. A prediction he made in his famous thesis A Brief History of Time. This breakthrough will come within 20 years from now, he says.
"Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision of nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish colonies, our future should be safe" Much like the sci-fi universe in Star Trek, we would venture in to space with rocket propelled space craft made for colonization of suitable planets in distant star systems. "There isn’t anyplace like the Earth in our solar system, so we would have to go to another star", he continues.
The first step in an endeavour to colonize space is settlements on the Moon and Mars. These outposts would be for testing technologies, equipment and the effects of living on other planets. But these planets do not have the resources to sustain a larger population.
For permanent and full scale colonization we would need a planet similar to the Earth, with equal living conditions and similar climate. To find such a planet we would probably have to travel many light-years (Alpha Centauri being the closest at 4.39 light-years distant). With present technology this journey would take thousands of millions of years to complete, and is therefore not a viable alternative. The Professor said that with the use of matter/antimatter annihilation, similar to time warps, huge distances of space could be covered quickly.
Our hope is that our scientists are as smart as Hawking predicts, so that we are able to save our civilization before disaster strikes.
Hawking is a theoretical physicist which principal fields of research are theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. He has been awarded the Royal Society’s Copley Medal, Britain’s highest scientific award. Previous recipients include Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday and Captain James Cook.
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Published: 2006.12.02 - 08:13 CET
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If humanity is to survive as a species we need to start colonizing outer space. At some point a natural disaster of cataclysmic proportions will strike our home world, and with such magnitude that human kind will not survive it.
Hawking is a theoretical physicist which principal fields of research are theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. He has been awarded the Royal Society’s Copley Medal, Britain’s highest scientific award. Previous recipients include Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday and Captain James Cook.
