Humanity must expand civilisation beyond Earth and as quickly as possible, Professor has insisted.
The UK’s foremost particle physicist believes advancements in space technology, driven by both government agencies such as and private companies such as ’s SpaceX, mean that becoming a multi-planetary civilisation is now within reach.
Speaking before the premiere of his new Two documentary about the Solar System, Prof Cox said: “Our civilisation must expand beyond Earth for so many reasons.”
Specifically, he cited the Earth’s limited resources and the environmental damage caused by humanity’s increasing demands as compelling reasons to look beyond our planet.
Prof Cox stressed the importance of tapping into the universe’s resources, such as mining asteroids, adding: “It’s extremely important that we do it, and as quickly as possible.”
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Professor Brian Cox’s new series will look at missions including NASA’s exciting Europa Clipper (Image: BBC/NASA)
He points to recent breakthroughs in commercial space exploration, including the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which saw billionaire Jared Isaacman become the first private sector astronaut to walk in space.
NASA hailed the mission as a “giant leap forward” for the future of space exploration.
Prof Cox is a staunch advocate of a collaborative approach between state-run space agencies and private enterprises, arguing that affordable and reliable access to space is vital to securing humanity’s future beyond Earth.
He said: “If we don’t expand into the stars, no one else will. It becomes an obligation for us to take those first steps.”
Professor Brian Cox says private companies such as SpaceX are crucial for the future of space travel (Image: Getty)
He also reflected on the potential for life beyond Earth.
While exploring the vast reaches of the Solar System and the Milky Way, Prof Cox believes humanity must harness its political and technological will to explore and colonise other planets, ensuring that civilisation can thrive beyond the constraints of Earth.
Mars and the Moon are the most likely candidates for human settlement in the near future – but Prof Cox remains hopeful that these first ventures will eventually lead to the exploration of the wider galaxy.
However, he also fears that the greatest threat to Earth is humanity itself, warning: “If anything destroys us, it’s probably going to be us.”.
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Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, is thought to be a good candidate for primitive life (Image: GETTY)
His new series will explore the latest missions in space, including NASA’s Europa Clipper, which is set to investigate whether Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could harbour life.
While Prof Cox expects any life discovered there to be simple, such explorations are, in his view, a crucial part of mankind’s responsibility to explore the universe.
Speaking to Express.co.uk five years ago at the launch of The Planets, his spectacular series focusing on the seven other fully fledged planets in the solar system apart from Earth, Prof Cox said of Mars: “It is actually the only place we can go beyond Earth.
“In any plausible scenario, there is nowhere else that humans can go to begin their step outwards from a planet other than Mars, other than the Moon.
A NASA illustration shows the path the Europa Clipper will take (Image: NASA)
“So, if you think of the other planets, there’s none of the others we can land on.
“In the Mars film I actually make this case: there may or may not be Martians and we need to find out.
“But there will be Martians if we are to have a future.
“At some point, we will be the Martians – that’s clear to me because we can’t stay here forever.”