• Question: where would human life gfo if we were attacked and had to be evanuwated out of earth?

    Asked by to Ian on 21 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ian Simpson

      Ian Simpson answered on 21 Jun 2014:

      Well in the short term we might imagine being able to go (in small numbers) to a place where we could live in a fairly artificial environment for a time. In the long run though we would likely run out of food, water and power. We would need to find a place (presumably a planet) where we could source the bare essentials to survive. In principle there are many such places in the universe and one was found just in April this year :-

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27054366

      Our main problem is getting there. The kinds of distances that we would need to travel and the length of time that it would take to get there with current technology are likely to be the limiting factors. Sending a satellite into deep space is a much easier thing to do than to send a (much bigger) manned space craft not least due to the effects that travel would have on the human body. So for now at least long-term extra-terrestrial life for the humans of Earth is not something that’s likely to happen in the short term, but ultimately it may happen way into the future.

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