Hawking calls for return to Moon
NORWAY: Humans are overdue for a return trip to the Moon, Stephen Hawking has opined.
Speaking at the Starmus Festival, a science and musical gathering, the British astrophysicist offered two parts doom cut with one part scientific optimism. He argued that we should prepare for a cosmic exodus to take place in the next 200 to 500 years.
‘‘We are running out of space, and the only place we can go to are other worlds. It is time to explore other solar systems,’’ he said.
‘‘Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. I am convinced that humans need to leave Earth.’’
Hawking’s plan to boogie off this planet is ambitious: countries should collaborate to construct a lunar colony within 30 years. We can reach Mars ‘‘in the next 15 years’’, he said, with a base to follow a few decades later.
The head of the European Space Agency said in 2016 that a ‘‘Moon village’’ would take 20 years to plan and construct. Nasa’s longterm plans include sending humans to Mars by the 2030s.
Hawking’s gloom goes beyond decay into eschatology. In November, he said we had about 1000 years left before escaping to the stars. In May, he chopped that timetable to the next hundred years. During his speech this week, he said ‘‘Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive’’.
There are extraterrestrial apocalypses, such as asteroid impacts ‘‘guaranteed by the laws of physics and probability’’. On Earth, Hawking cited melting polar ice caps, loss of animal life and dwindling physical resources, among other ill portents.
‘‘The Earth is becoming too small for us,’’ he said. Global warming is a threat, too, a view he knows is not shared by Donald Trump. ‘‘I am arguing for the future of humanity and a longterm strategy to achieve this.’’
So let us set our sights on other worlds. At a neighbourly 4.37 lightyears away, the planet Proxima B in the Alpha Centauri system is a promising target, Hawking said, except that with current technology, interstellar travel is ‘‘utterly impractical.’’
He outlined some of the theoretical technology behind Breakthrough Starshot, a mission he supports along with Russian tycoon Yuri Milner. The goal is to send tiny probes all 40 million kilometres to Proxima B and have them beam back information.
‘‘The human race has existed as a separate species for about 2 million years. Civilisation began about 10,000 years ago, and the rate of development has been steadily increasing,’’ Hawking said. ‘‘If humanity is to continue for another million years, our future lies in boldly going where no-one else has gone before.’’
– Washington Post