In five billion years, the Sun will change shape

While the first scenario is already impressive, the second is downright spectacular. In about five billion years, our Sun will enter its so-called “red giant” phase. In practical terms? It will swell colossally, to the point of engulfing the nearest planets: Mercury, Venus, and potentially  Earth itself.

But let’s not despair: the Sun is only halfway through its life. It still has five billion years ahead of it. To put things in perspective, modern humanity has existed for about 300,000 years. So we have a comfortable margin.

What if Mars was our plan B?

This is where Elon Musk, a major advocate for Martian colonization, comes in. For him, Mars represents a kind of “collective life insurance” for humanity. The idea: to build a civilization capable of surviving autonomously on the Red Planet, independently of  Earth.

His company, SpaceX, is actively working toward this goal, with the ambition of sending the first humans to Mars. On the American side, the White House recently redirected a portion of NASA’s budget toward crewed space missions, making the conquest of Mars a national priority in the face of international competition.