The discovery of an exoplanet similar to Earth only 11 light-years from the only planet on which life is known to exist has opened up the prospect of finding extraterrestrial life and/or colonising it once for living. On the further positive side, the red dwarf star Ross 128 around which the exoplanet named Ross 128b orbits is slowly moving towards the sun. This movement is going to unseat Proxima b as the closest planet outside the solar system to the Earth within 79,000 years.
Orbiting its star at a distance of only one-twentieth of the space between the Earth and the Sun, the exoplanet has a very moderate temperature in the range of -60 to 20 degree Celsius which is good enough for harbouring life there. Its closer proximity to its star only makes it absorb as much as 1.38 times the radiation the Earth does from its star -the Sun. Why? All because the dwarf star is much smaller and cooler.
Stephen Hawking, the greatest living scientist of this time, has predicted that the planet Earth will turn uninhabitable by 2050 because of continued global temperature rise. He made similar prediction in the past too but the timeframe for the Earth's uninhabitability was not brought forward so nearer. In that context, the Ross 128 b looks like the ultimate candidate so far for man to travel the space for living there. But man stands a slim chance of making a space capsule capable of ferrying people to that exoplanet by the year 2050. Even if any such space vehicle is built ultimately, not many people will be able to afford the cost of space travel.
A Martian living abode is still under consideration for many. But the environment and temperature are unlikely to support life there. So the option has to be space capsules that can travel at a speed closer to that of light. It sounds crazy but who knows what scientists are capable of. If the existence of man relies on anything, no one knows how scientists will respond to the emergency. Amazing discoveries of today were once beyond common people's dream. So, there is no reason to be pessimistic. Maybe, the top scientific brains will come up with simple solutions to the problems facing the mankind now on account of travelling to outer space.
Let man hope for the best. But why are people not opting for the easiest alternative? The alternative is to say goodbye to carbon dioxide production from factories, industries and automobiles. Some people are really on the right track by making commendable progress in perfecting electric vehicles including cars and trucks. Tesla, Nikola Motors and other automobile companies are dead set to press into service their brands as soon as possible. If electric motor vehicles replace the fossil fuel-driven ones all across the globe, imagine the beneficial impact on the planet's environment. Further, if the industries also go green and dispense with fossil fuel, chances are that the global temperature will come down to the pre-industrial level within decades.
If this happens, there will be no need for an extraterrestrial abode. Also there may be a civilisation of its own and the life forms there will not allow human beings to colonise their world. If the inhabitants of the Earth can, however, turn it sustainable for living, scientists will experiment to see if a visit to the exoplanet can be made possible at costs affordable for many. Exchange of ideas and norms of civilisation with the neighbouring exoplanets may be highly rewarding.
