Every species on Earth will eventually be wiped out due to the Sun’s expansion, according to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The SpaceX CEO gave the gloomy prediction in response to a discussion on mass extinction events, of which there have been five so far on the planet – the most famous being when a giant asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
That particular devastation caused 76% of the world’s species to be terminated by the impact and its subsequent after-effects.
Now, scientists have discovered evidence that the sixth mass extinction event is under way, based on a study on biodiversity loss of the Earth, the Express reported.
Mr Musk tweeted: “There is a 100% chance of all species extinction due to expansion of the sun, unless humanity makes life multi-planetary.”
While the Sun is expected to expand and engulf the Earth, incinerating everything in its path, this is not likely to happen for another couple of billion years.
Mr Musk has previously stated that he wanted to make sure humanity is able to leave the planet before “Earth gets too hot for life in about 500 million years”.
The richest man in the world, with a net worth of upwards of $270 billion, has made it his mission to make humanity a multi-planetary species, through a colony on Mars – he believes that SpaceX will be able to send a crewed flight there in 2026.
The billionaire founder of SpaceX is building the Starship rocket that will be able to take humanity to the Red Planet.
Through the Starship project, he hopes to colonise the hostile planet and construct cities among its craters by 2050.
His project has already seen SpaceX secure a multi-million-dollar contract with Nasa.
Mr Musk’s aerospace company is aiming to launch uncrewed missions to Mars by 2024.
According to SpaceX’s user guide for Starships, to fulfil the company’s ambitions it will need to build up to 100 rockets a year.
Each one will be capable of housing 100 crew members and boasting “private cabins, large common areas, centralised storage, solar storm shelters and a viewing gallery”.
While global extinction due to an exploding Sun may be millennia in the future, scientists are currently warning of large scale species extinction, caused due to human activity-driven climate change.
Robert Cowie, research professor at the UH Mānoa Pacific Biosciences Research Center in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), said: “Drastically increased rates of species extinctions and declining abundances of many animal and plant populations are well documented.
“Including invertebrates was key to confirming that we are indeed witnessing the onset of the Sixth Mass Extinction in Earth’s history.”
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