Old Hawking is still not appeased. Recall that in may this year, the famous physicist made a very loud statement about our recent and, in his opinion, a very sad future. He said that mankind has only 100 years to leave the Earth, 900 years less than the prediction, which he did in November of 2016, “giving,” then humanity is exactly 1000 years in order to “think again”. According to Hawking, the only way to prolong the existence of humanity lies in finding a new home on another planet.
Speaking at the Starmus science festival in the Norwegian city of Trondheim on Tuesday, Hawking again repeated his point:
“If humanity expects to survive the next million years, then our future is definitely a must lie down where no one has ever been”, refers to Stephen Hawking’s Agency BBC.
Hawking also noted that we should think about landing on the moon by 2020 and in the period of 30 years to start building a lunar base. According to him, these projects will significantly help in the realization of the mission to send people to Mars by 2025.
“We’re starting to run out of space, and the only thing that will be able to solve this problem, a new home on another planet. It’s time to start exploring other systems. Perhaps the only means of saving us from ourselves will be the settlement. I am convinced that mankind must leave Earth,” added Hawking.
The desire of the physicist to expand the boundaries of mankind in space exploration never leaves him almost 45 years since the last lunar mission of NASA, and, interestingly, he is not the only one who thinks that mankind should revive the program for the development of the natural satellite of our planet. Even the current President of the United States Donald trump is eager to deliver humans to the moon by 2020. It is therefore not surprising that within the government space agencies, and within private companies already working on the relevant projects.
For example, one of the major points of the program of NASA’s Mars colonization is the construction of a lunar orbital station, which will become a transit point for implementation of future missions to the red planet.
The US is not the only one who wants to return to the moon. The same goals set by the Chinese and the European space Agency. They also want to visit the satellite of our planet somewhere in the 2020-ies, and in the future to build their own lunar base. Such statements are heard a real echo of the era of the space race during the cold war, with the only exception that the number of players on the field now seriously increased.
As for the private space sector, the Moon here represents the more tourist interest than a potential springboard for the construction of checkpoints. The company SpaceX Elon musk is already preparing the first customisability flight to the moon. Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin, in turn, see the future in the creation of the first specialized service delivery space for future permanent settlements. Hawking, the return to the moon is not so much a matter of survival, but with the desire to increase the power of mankind, while it’s still tied to the Land.
“I really hope that this desire will sooner or later be able to unite a variety of competitive Nations in the attainment of a common goal, and confronting the problem, common to all mankind. A new and ambitious space program will be able to inspire many great young minds and stimulates interest in the development of other fields such as astrophysics and cosmology,” added Hawking.
Stephen Hawking: I am convinced that mankind must leave Earth
Nikolai Khizhnyak