The Search for a New Earth

BBC Two, Monday 11th September, 9 pm

British physicist Stephen Hawking revives his prediction that humanity will have to spread out a new home in space within 100 years in order to ensure the species’ survival. But this time, he’s looking into how it can be done.

Hawking has repeatedly warned of the potential threats facing humanity, including nuclear war, rapid climate change, potential pandemics, catastrophic asteroid strikes and even a robot uprising. Last November, Hawking told an audience at Oxford Union in Cambridge, “I don’t think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet.”

“The Search for a New Earth” takes Hawking’s argument several steps further by delving into the technologies that could add plausibility to the idea of inhabiting off-Earth locales – ranging from the moon and Mars to habitable exoplanets.