The SpaceX tycoon is warning of the Earth’s certain demise, saying one possible solution for human survival is the colonization of Mars
Billionaire would-be Mars colonizer Elon Musk has renewed his call for humanity to live a “multiplanetary” lifestyle, insisting it’s the only way the species will escape a “mass extinction crisis” caused by the sun’s expansion.
Musk, one of the richest men alive, warned his Twitter followers over the weekend that there was a “100 [percent] chance of *all* species’ extinction due to expansion of the sun, unless humanity makes life multiplanetary.” The tweet was posted in response to an article claiming “There are many experts” were warning of a coming mass extinction crisis caused “All human activities are responsible.”
Although the mass extinction that Tesla founder raised may not be as much to do with humans than celestial bodies it is, he insisted that humanity could prevent it by pursuing his long-held dream of colonizing Mars.
While the expansion and subsequent explosion of Earth’s sun will happen eventually, assuming it follows the trajectory of similar stars elsewhere in space, astronomers have put the date of its demise at about one to three billion years in the future. Musk’s threatened mass extinction event, then, isn’t expected to take place until long after the current crop of humans and their own extinction-related worries, based more on fear of climate change than concern about exploding stars, are dead and buried.
Musk made it clear that he wants humans to colonize Mars. This is one of SpaceX’s core projects.
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