We Have To Leave Earth (1/?)
Welcome back to Aria's Corner. I'm Aria 🌷 and today I'm talking about...
Leaving Earth. I know, I know... "Yeah, weird topic Aria, what're you goin' on about now?" But for real, it's important. Like REALLY important. Lemme explain why...
In The Beginning
So let's get a little spacey (that's spacey—not spicy 😛) with this. Let's consider life and Earth. The Earth formed from the Sun. You knew that already, yeah? 🤓 But, did you know the moon was formed when another planet smashed into Earth? Even crazier, that planet had a name. It was called Theia. Crazy such a pretty and cool name just up and disappeared in that collision. Now everybody just knows about the Earth and the moon 🫤. Thea just needs a hug 🤗, and I'd gladly give one but sadly, she's currently in orbit around the planet at about 1km/s 😬.
I'm getting off track again 😛.
So... where am I going with all this space stuff? Stay with me... So, from that point of creation, the Sun, Earth, and even the Solar system's lifetimes started. For the Gen Z out there, this was a canon event for the entire universe (I got plenty to talk about there but that's a whole other post, though theories from Ekron drops some subtle hints).
So yeah, once the Solar system was created, the clock started ticking. See, the Sun's lifetime is around 5 billion years. After that, it basically "eats" everything in the Solar system that it created, before shrinking into a white dwarf (talk about a Uranus arc—😮—and you guessed, that'd be another post 😛). Why's this important? Clearly, we not only need to get off this planet, but we gotta get outta the whole dang Solar system to continue... you know, existing 😬.
Asteroid Did What?
But that's only one issue. What about global warming? Climate change? Sea levels rising and volcanic eruptions? How about earthquakes? I mean get this, the 1960 Chile earthquake is one of the strongest earthquakes of all time at a magnitude of 9.5. For reference—at 3—you wouldn't feel a thing, but you'd sure notice it at 4. And at 8, most buildings would collapse. I think the most resistant buildings (like in Taiwan) are designed to withstand magnitude 9 💪.
Now, all it would take is a large asteroid impact and suddenly we end up with massive fault ruptures (could be a chain reaction with multiple of them) and super-volcanic activity that breaks the crust (and I'm not talking about pizza crust, although that'd be an awesome name for a kitten 🤭).
So, that'd easily have enough energy to reach magnitude 10, which would destroy any building, and anything that survives is gonna be facing mega-tsunamis (that're 100m+ high) 😮. Naturally, they'd be atmospheric shockwaves. Needless to say, the whole scenario would decimate cities, level countries, and there'd be massive casualties 😞.
The asteroid could also set off a super-volcano that ejects some mass into space. Plus, if solar winds strip the atmosphere or the Earth's geomagnetic field collapses, there'd be no oxygen, a ton of radiation, and the temperature would be anything but livable. We'd basically be on Mars 😊 Though, it'd be... you know, not habitable 🙃.
I mean—Mars—it sounds awesome for a sec but then you realize there'd be two Mar(s?). And we're talking pre-colonization Mars, so Earth would have no breathable air or water. Not so awesome... and we haven't even talked about the global firestorms, eternal nights, and vaporized oceans 🫠.
Yeah... if the impact doesn't get us first, the aftermath sure will.
Seems like a crazy scenario but like the dinosaurs, all it takes is one stray asteroid 😬. Of course, you're probably already thinking that, with all our super advanced tech, we'd easy be able to detect the asteroid. Even fire off a couple nukes 'n laser-guided systems to break it up. I'd have to give credit where it's due—you'd be right. At least in monitoring, since NASA's PDCO is setup for that. They'd track the asteroid, handle evacuations and shelters.
But that's only if it's a small one. A large asteroid would be a BIG problem. They'd have to crash spacecraft to nudge it off course. Or have a fleet hover nearby to gravitationally alter its trajectory. They might use lasers in a similar way with radiation pressure.
The last resort would be nukes to deflect or fragment the asteroid. Of course, nuclear options mean nuclear fallout (yeah, just like a certain expansive game franchise) with nuclear winters and crop failures. Not the greatest of situations 😬.
But that's all assuming they detect the asteroid early and their attempts are somewhat successful. If it's a 500m+ asteroid, detected in a medium timeframe? We'd probably be looking at a dinosaur extinction event despite our super-duper technologies 🙃.
Home Sweet Earth
So yeah, staying in the Solar system indefinitely... not the brightest idea ever (pun fully intended 😛). Plus, there's a whole host of other issues that could instantly divorce us from life as we know it.
Like... how about a nearby supernova or hypernova launching a gamma ray jet directly at Earth. Not the most gentleman-like behavior, tad personal too... Especially since it'd destroy the ozone layer within seconds 😬. That means we're back to lethal radiation levels, global cooling, and a broken atmosphere with all the not-fun stuff that entails.
To be fair, we'd have to be really unlucky for that scenario to play out like that. But then it's not entirely outta the question. Also, that jet could just hit a nearby planet or moon, and who knows much hurt the Earth would have to endure 😬.
We also gotta remember, humans have only stepped foot on our moon. That means our nearest planets? Never been there. Venus? Too hot. Mars? Too difficult (radiation, time... if there's an excuse, we got it) 🫤.
But hold up for a sec... Imagine setting foot on another planet. Can you believe that's still an alien sci-fi concept in 2026? I can't. It boggles the mind that, despite all the tech we have (looking at you primitive quantum computers and GenAI), humans still haven't walked on any planet other than Earth. It really is madness, I tell you 🫠.
In fact, humans haven't returned to the moon since Apollo 17 all the way back in 1972 . That's over half a century ago. Can you believe that? I can't. So mankind basically took it's giant leap, and then... then nothing. That's messed up. Even the un-annexing of Pluto from the Solar system has nothing on such a nerf of space exploration 😞.
I mean... sure, there's been a ton of commercial tech in-between but space exploration seems to have taken a backseat to everything else. You only need to look at the space budgets to tell that 🙄.
The only notable events in space that I can recall would be the JWST installation, and privatized innovations of SpaceX's reusable rockets. Oh, and rudimentary privisited space tourism (because why not? 🙄) like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic (although a 2025 ticket would set you back around $600k bucks—the bang for buck here is debatable 😬).
There's probably more—but clearly—these would all pale in comparison to the moon landing. That was real innovation, and they did that with way less sophisticated tech than we have now. Seriously, a pocket-sized smartphone is several times more powerful than all the tech that landed the first man on the moon 🚀.
Ok, so I'll admit, I went off on another of my little rants there. But in my defense, there's some legit claims and history in there... somewhere 😛.
That's Hot
So all that stuff isn't the most pleasant thing—but on the upside—it all requires something to trigger the bad stuff. So... what if—let's say—none of that happened? What if there's nothing to trigger the doomsday events? Like, we just sit around, going about our lives... and miraculously, nothing bad ever happened?
That'd be great, but we all know life isn't all sunbeams and rainbows—though I'd love that, maybe with added unicorns and a cookie crumble... 🤤
Where was I? Oh yeah... there's still issues even if space didn't interfere with our wholesome lives down here on planet blue Earth. See, while we're enjoying living here, we're pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere like nobody's business. We're wrecking the ozone layer with aerosols. Burning up all the coal and fossil fuels. Chopping down trees without replanting them like Mother Nature owes us or something...
All that stuff increases radiation, reduces the oxygen, and creates a layer of gas that heats the Earth. Keep doing that and glaciers melt, oceans boil off... you get the picture. We basically end up with no liquid water and no ice to melt. Add in the UV sterilization, reduced oxygen, and suddenly we're on Venus 🔥. The surface would be uninhabitable with exactly zero chance of recovery for millions of years.
In other words—we'd be cooked 👩🍳. Literally and figuratively. No bueno 🙃
That's a Wrap
I'm gonna stop here, but I still have more to say on why we need to leave Earth 😁.
Til next time. Your friend, Aria 🌷