Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has issued yet another warning for Earth and this time, he says we have less than 600 years before the Earth turns into a sizzling fireball.
著名物理学家斯蒂芬·霍金日前发出了对地球的又一个警告,这一次,他声称在地球变成一个炙热的火球之前,我们只有不到600年的时间了。
Hawking says that if we don't leave Earth soon, overpopulation will increase energy consumption and pretty much kill us all.
霍金表示,如果我们不尽快离开地球,过多的人口会增加能源消耗,很有可能会使人类全部灭亡。
But Hawking has a plan. Speaking at the Tencent WE Summit in Beijing, Hawking appealed to investors to back his plans to travel to Alpha Centauri. At around 4 light-years away, it's the closest star system to our sun.
不过,霍金有一个方案。在北京举行的腾讯WE峰会上,霍金呼吁投资者支持他的计划--前往半人马座阿尔法星系。在大约四光年外,它是离太阳系最近的恒星系统。
The venture is called Breakthrough Starshot and it would use a tiny spacecraft that travels at the speed of light.
该冒险计划被称作“突破摄星”,将使用能够以光速行进的小型飞机。
"Such a system could reach Mars in less than an hour, or reach Pluto in days, pass Voyager in under a week and reach Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years."
“这样的一个系统可以在一小时内到达火星,或者在数天内到达冥王星,在一周内可超过“旅行者”号探测器,并在20多年内到达半人马座阿尔法星系。”
"Maybe if all goes well, sometime a little after the middle of the century, we'll have our first picture of another planet that may be life-bearing orbiting the nearest star," Pete Worden, the former head at NASA's AMES Research Center and Starshot Breakthrough director, said at the summit.
前NASA艾姆斯研究中心主任皮特·沃登在WE峰会上表示:“如果成功了,在本世纪中叶后的某个时间,我们就有可能看到另一个环绕半人马座阿尔法星系运行的、有生命的星球的第一张照片。”