Musk: It's not that Mars is a plan B — it's that we want to become a multiplanet species and a spacefaring civilization. Ultimately, with life throughout the solar system, and then beyond our solar system to other star systems. That I think is a future that is very exciting and inspiring, compared to one where we stay on Earth forever, until some eventual extinction event.
马斯科：不是说火星是B计划，而是我们想成为一个多行星物种和
一个太空文明。最终，生命遍及整个太阳系，然后超越我们的
太阳系，到达其他恒星系统。与我们永远留在地球上，直到最终
灭绝的事件相比，我认为这是一个非常令人兴奋和鼓舞的未来。
I mean, eventually the sun's just going to get bigger
and evaporate the oceans. And so, at some point,
we better do something.
我的意思是，最终太阳会变得愈来愈大并蒸发掉
地球上所有海洋。因此，在某个时候，我们最好
做点什么。
And I think urgency is important for making life multiplanetary, because this is the first time in the 4-1/2-billion-year history of Earth that it has been possible. And this window of opportunity could be open for a long time, and hopefully it is. But it might also be open for only a short time. And it's not necessarily that civilization will end, but our technology level could subside. It could be that we don't end with a bang, but with a whimper. And so, while it's still possible, I think we should take action. But Mars, to be clear, is not going to be some luxurious resort.
Washington, D.C. -- The Earth's oceans will disappear in about one billion years due to increased temperatures from a maturing sun, but Earth's problems may begin in half that time because of falling levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to a Penn State researcher.
"The sun, like all main sequence stars, is getting brighter with time and that affects the Earth's climate," says Dr. James F. Kasting, professor of meteorology and geosciences. "Eventually temperatures will become high enough so that the oceans evaporate."
