Elon Musk has spoken out about humanity’s need for a second planet,’ claiming it is ultimately a life-or-death issue.

Musk has been extremely upfront about his intentions to populate Mars since he first became a public figure.

On the one hand, a whole planet of free radioactive real estate sounds fantastic, but on the other, we have so many issues here on Earth that it is definitely worth addressing them first before venturing into space.

However, in a recent interview with The Joe Rogan Experience, Musk intimated that it is for these reasons that we might consider getting off this journey and establishing another home for mankind to thrive.

Musk, who previously stated that he intended to die on the Red Planet, said on the podcast, “My perspective is that we should relocate to Mars, well, not migrate to Mars, but to a second planet to maintain civilization.

“Let us assume, theoretically, that [a civilization-ending disaster] will occur on Earth at some time.

“It’s only a matter of time before an asteroid strikes us, or perhaps we wipe ourselves out with nuclear war or supervolcanoes.”

Rogan concurred, adding that other apocalypse scenarios may strike our planet, so it’s ‘not a terrible idea’ to just ‘hedge your bets’ before heading abroad.

In recent years, the fear of humanity’s demise has not been entirely unwarranted.

This is evident when you consider that the possibility of nuclear war is always there when nations with nuclear arsenals butt heads. Furthermore, the pandemic remains a fresh memory, demonstrating how swiftly regular life may alter when a disease spreads rapidly.

More specifically, asteroid worries have lately escalated as NASA has continued to provide updates on a ‘city-destroying’ asteroid that might impact within the next seven years.

2024 YR4 was discovered when it triggered automatic asteroid warning systems in December 2024, and scientists have been monitoring it ever since.

According to NASA, the space object is around 130 to 300 feet (40 to 90 meters) broad, and if it hits Earth, the force would be hundreds of times that of the Hiroshima bomb.

Most concerningly, the initial chance of the space rock reaching Earth was about 1.2 percent, but upgrades have increased this figure to as high as 3.2 percent.

However, let us hope that the ratio of strikes begins to decline in the next years.