Preeminent scientist Stephen Hawking is doing holographic talks around the world, via his Cambridge office. At one such talk projected at the Sydney Opera House,
he had this to say:
"We must continue to go into space for the future of humanity," Mr Hawking said. "I don't think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet."
Hawking has been using his his interviews and speeches to put forth his larger thoughts on humanity over the past few years.
This year alone during an interview he explained that the importance of space exploration is sometimes just intangible enough but no less important:
Sending humans to the moon changed the future of the human race in ways that we don't yet understand,' he said.
'It hasn't solved any of our immediate problems on planet Earth, but it has given us new perspectives on them and caused us to look both outward and inward.
'I believe that the long term future of the human race must be space and that it represents an important life insurance for our future survival, as it could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonising other planets.'
Watch the Sydney Opera House talk.