In 1993, J. Richard Gott III computed with scientific certainty that humanity would survive at least 5,100 more years. At the time, I took that as reason to relax, but Dr. Gott has now convinced me I was wrong. He has issued a wake-up call: To ensure our long-term survival, we need to get a colony up and running on Mars within 46 years.

James Pinkerton argues that recent environmental protests against space expansion to the moon and Mars is futile because it won't influence the People's Republic of China which is "intent on both expanding its terrestrial economy as quickly as possible and also space-racing into the extra-terrestrial vacuum left by America's post-Apollo retreat from the moon."

NASA is consulting with anthropologists and psychologists to figure out how a community aboard an interstellar spacecraft will be able to survive the journey.

Humans will begin a voyage to the nearest star this century, a NASA researcher says. And the crew might more resemble a tribal society than the chain of command of traditional space missions. Procreation would be required: The crew that arrived would be descendents of those that left.

According to a group of scientists for whom the term "wildly optimistic dreamers" is virtually a job description, it will indeed be very difficult to travel to other stars, and nobody in either the public or private sector is about to try it any time soon. But as the researchers see it, the challenge is not insurmountable, it requires no defiance of the laws of physics, so why not have fun and start thinking about it now?

Researchers gave their suggestions on how we might explore other star systems to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. They discussed the impact interstellar travel would have on societal and genetic evolution.

A group of Chinese space scientists urged the government to accelerate acceptance of the proposal to develop an infrastructure in space and regard developing the "space territory" as a national strategy.

Plans to save civilization from doom by sending people and important documents into space in a 21st Century Noah's Ark may get a boost from heightened fears of bioterrorism.

James Pinkerton argues that humanity should expand outward into space to avoid annhilation by terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction.

James Pinkerton argues that society should develop a 'back-up' plan of expanding into space to hedge against the risk of human extinction from advanced technologies.