NASA scientists looking for earth-like planet in preparation for the eventual end of earth?

Question

Most scientists agree that earth as it exists today will cease to exist once our sun "dies" (in however many billion years). Space scientists (like at NASA) are working tirelessly on finding earth-like planets to see if life exists elsewhere in the universe. Do you think this search is partly fueled by the need to find a future home for humans and other species?

Answer 1

No, I don't think that is the case.

The Earth is scheduled to be fried and consumed

by the expansion of the Sun to 4 or 5 times its

present diameter in 4.5 Billion Years. None of us

will be around at that time, and there is no current

means of transporting ... say 2 Billion people from

Earth to anywhere. You might get 500 people off to

the Moon which would be stupid because, it will go

also

when the Earth goes sizzle sizzle sizzle. Much of our

Solar System will be in upheaval as a result of this event.

So, the only possibility is to select some other star system.

Even then, only a few might be able to go, and those would probably only be the wealthy and powerful ones. Besides,

if it ain't a lot like Texas, I don't wanna go.

Answer 2

No. I think its much more a desire to explore and learn about other worlds because it tells us ironocally so much about our own.

In the time scale you're talking about, I'm not sure science is looking that far down the road in context.

Answer 3

They're searching for ANY planet, not just the earth-like ones, as we can learn a lot just from observing how other planets orbit their suns.  However, finding another earth-like planet holds a special allure because, deep down, all astronomers would love to find extra-terrestrial life.  Thing is, we can generally tell when a planet is similar in size and orbit to ours, but we can't accurately measure their atmospheres... many of these earth-like planets could very well be inhospitable to human life, making it futile to choose one to escape to at this point in time.

Our sun will exist for another 4 billion years or so.  By that time, our species will most likely have died out.  If we do survive for that long, it is quite possible that we'd be able to leave our planet and travel to other solar systems... or we may never be able to make it further than Mars.  Either way, four billion years is a very, very long time... it's a bit premature to start worrying about the sun exploding, when we have more immediate concerns to worry about (pollution, global warming, etc.)

Answer 4

well, we really want to find a planet with intelligent life

plus, we need to find a planet we can go to as our planet is totally f'ed up. seriously, all this oil being drilled, all these people dumping stuff

in the near future we are gonna die out unless we get to a new planet