In sci-fi books and films, colonizing different planets seems simple. All you have to do is make a jump to hyper-space in your star cruiser and voila — you punch through folded space-time and arrive at your destination instantly. In reality, we won't colonize space in great big leaps, but in a series of small steps, like living successfully in low-Earth orbit.
On two occasions, theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking argued for space colonization as a means of saving humanity. In 2001, Hawking predicted that the human race would become extinct within the next thousand years unless colonies could be established in space. In 2006, he stated that humanity faces two options: either we colonize space within the next two hundred years and build residential units on other planets, or we will face the prospect of long-term extinction.
Many people believe that space colonization is a waste of money. Why spend billions of dollars on space research and launching large rockets, space crafts, and rovers to different planets when that money can go to fixing problems on our existing planet? However, there are many valid reasons for this such as growing population and reducing natural resources. The other reason as said by Hawking is to prevent the extinction of our race. If something were to happen to Earth all human life would be in danger, however, if humans were spread out across various planets and galaxies our race would continue to thrive.
Many organizations and individuals at the moment are assessing the results of moving humans to Mars. Elon Musk once said that more than a million humans will be on Mars by the 2060s.
It is onerous to move crowds of people across space to other planets and ensure their survival on those planets. Many organizations are working on finding solutions to the existing barriers we face.
Although keeping this planet as inhabitable as possible is very important, it is not a long-term solution. Reducing the impact of problems like climate change and rising sea levels and pollution is critical for the peaceful survival of humans on earth and other species. However, finding long term solutions like life on other planets is even more important especially seeing the rise in unfavorable climate worldwide, in the form of forest fires, floods, heatwaves and increased occurrences of cyclones. While there are ways to reduce the impact and frequency of such phenomena...how long can we go on like this?
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