'Earth will transform into giant fireball.' Stephen Hawking’s prediction confirmed by NASA
NASA confirmed Stephen Hawking’s prediction about Earth’s extinction (photo: Getty Images)
By the year 2600, humanity may disappear. This isn’t the plot of a sci-fi series, but a real warning from Stephen Hawking. He believed that Earth would not be able to withstand the pressure and would become uninhabitable. Today, his words echo the forecasts from NASA. Here’s what Hawking predicted, what has already come true, and what NASA scientists have recently discovered, as reported by Farming Dale.
What Stephen Hawking warned about
Shortly before he died in 2018, Stephen Hawking made a chilling prediction about the future of our planet. At a summit in Beijing, the renowned physicist warned that Earth could become "a massive ball of fire" by the year 2600.
This prediction wasn’t based on mysticism but on scientific analysis of current human consumption patterns and environmental degradation. Hawking emphasized that his calculations took into account exponential population growth and resource depletion.
"By 2600, Earth will transform into a giant fireball. Humanity must make plans to leave the planet, or we risk extinction," Hawking said.
He also added that continued population growth would create unsustainable density, describing a future where people would be standing "shoulder to shoulder" across the globe. According to Hawking’s timeline, humanity has around 575 years before a catastrophic planetary transformation occurs.
What NASA discovered
It should be noted that NASA has not directly endorsed the specific 2600 timeline proposed by Hawking. However, the space agency has acknowledged the validity of the core environmental concerns he raised. Scientists now confirm that humanity does indeed face an existential threat if the current pace of resource consumption continues unchecked.
According to NASA, uncontrolled resource depletion could accelerate the timeline for ecological collapse - even sooner than Hawking predicted. In late 2024, scientists began taking a renewed interest in Hawking’s research and started studying it closely.
For over 50 years, NASA has studied our planet, providing information that directly benefits humanity and producing observations that can only be gathered from space, addressing some of the areas mentioned by Hawking, the agency stated.
The urgency of solving the climate crisis becomes even more apparent as we start witnessing its shocking consequences. These facts only reinforce the environmental issues Hawking spoke about, which are now being actively studied by NASA.
What Hawking proposed for humanity
Recognizing that Earth may become uninhabitable, Hawking strongly advocated for the creation of interplanetary colonies. He believed that humanity’s long-term survival depends on becoming a multi-planetary species.
Hawking didn’t just warn - he also offered a solution: colonizing other planets. In 2016, he supported the Breakthrough Starshot project, which aims to launch miniature probes to nearby stars at speeds of up to 15,000 km/s. The goal is to find new planets suitable for life.
NASA, in turn, continues to focus on exploring Mars and other celestial bodies. The search for an alternative home for humanity now goes beyond distant star systems.
Will humanity listen?
The question is not whether Hawking’s prediction will come true. The real question is whether we will act in time. While we may have nearly 600 years according to his estimates, NASA’s observations suggest that the window could be much shorter.
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