Sun to destroy Earth in 7.6 billion years

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 24 February 2008 16:27

Science - Space

Professor Smith points to a remarkable scheme proposed by a team at Santa Cruz University, who suggest harnessing the gravitational effects of a close passage by a large asteroid to "nudge" the Earth's orbit gradually outwards away from the encroaching Sun.

A suitable passage every 6000 years or so would be enough to keep the Earth out of trouble and allow life to survive for at least 5 billion years, and possibly even to survive the Sun's red giant phase.

"This sounds like science fiction," says Professor Smith. "But it seems that the energy requirements are just about possible and the technology could be developed over the next few centuries."

However, it is a high-risk strategy - a slight miscalculation, and the asteroid could actually hit the Earth, with catastrophic consequences.

"A safer solution may be to build a fleet of interplanetary 'life rafts' that could manoeuvre themselves always out of reach of the Sun, but close enough to use its energy," added the good Professor.

As we end, the words of another Professor – Stephen Hawking – rapidly come to mind. To save ourselves as a species, we need to find a way to leave the planet. Not permanently, mind you, it’s a very nice planet after all.

But with so many incredible resources just floating up there in the universe, and in the absence of aliens to do battle with to claim them, humanity can’t afford to spend the next billion years stuck on planet Earth.

Space is the final frontier, after all. Humanity must embark on a journey to colonise the universe, explore all those strange new worlds, and perhaps even figure out a way to give our planet independent propulsion, crazy as that sounds.

All this is far off into the future, though, well beyond the reach of our own life spans, and well beyond the reach of current technology. Still, we have been warned. Let’s hope humanity is still around in a billion years time and can do something about it!