Stephen Hawking says we have 100 years to colonize a new planet—or die. Could we do it?
Here's what it would take to survive this particular doomsday prophecy
By Sarah Fecht Yesterday at 3:03pm
Living on Mars would arguably be harder than fixing up our own planet.
Stephen Hawking is making apocalyptic predictions again. The respected theoretical physicist warns that humanity needs to become a multi-planetary species within the next century if we don’t want to go extinct. Last year, he prophesied that we had maybe 1,000 years left on Earth, and the inspiration for this newly-urgent timeline is unclear—except for the fact that Hawking’s new documentary about colonizing Mars is coming out soon.
To be sure, Earth is facing some big problems, including climate change, overpopulation, epidemics, and asteroid strikes. But before we flee this planet like an action hero jumping out of an explosion, let’s think about this for a second. Sure, it’d be great to have a backup civilization somewhere in case asteroids wipe out all life on Earth. And it would be one of the most exciting things humankind has ever done. But what would it actually require?
http://www.popsci.com/stephen-hawking-human-extinction-colonize-mars
