--- title: Stephen Hawking Gives Humans Deadline for Finding New Planet description: Humans need to find a new planet within 1,000 years to keep the species alive, professor Stephen Hawking said in a talk this week canonical: https://time.com/4575054/stephen-hawking-humans-new-planet/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-17T17:09:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:53:31.627Z article:section: Science og:title: Stephen Hawking Gives Humans a Deadline for Finding a New Planet og:description: “We must...continue to go into space for the future of humanity" og:url: https://time.com/4575054/stephen-hawking-humans-new-planet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a1c3817aaa9ac3e/6988aee5428a9e5375cd50bd/stephen-hawking-space-planet.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: stephen hawking space planet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Hawking Gives Humans a Deadline for Finding a New Planet twitter:description: “We must...continue to go into space for the future of humanity" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a1c3817aaa9ac3e/6988aee5428a9e5375cd50bd/stephen-hawking-space-planet.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Hawking Gives Humans a Deadline for Finding a New Planet  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 17, 2016 5:09 PM UTC  Stephen Hawking attends the Pride Of Britain Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel on Oct. 31, 2016 in London. Stephen Hawking attends the Pride Of Britain Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel on Oct. 31, 2016 in London.Karwai Tang—WireImage  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 17, 2016 5:09 PM UTC Humans need to find a new [planet](http://time.com/4565968/ron-howard-mars/) within 1,000 years to keep the species alive, [Stephen Hawking](http://time.com/4507656/stephen-hawking-richard-branson-virgin-spaceshiptwo-space-travel/) said in a talk this week. Hawking, the noted theoretical physicist, said that humans will likely expend the planet’s resources in that time, according to the remarks, first [reported](http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/732606/Stephen-Hawking-end-of-the-world) by _Daily Express._ “We must…continue to go into space for the future of humanity,” Hawking said, according to the remarks. “I don’t think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet.” **_(Gifts:_** [**_The 100 Most Influential Images of All Time)_**](http://shop.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1039114.html?xid=cm-TIMEShopscTIMEArticle) Hawking has made [similarly dire remarks](http://time.com/4185253/stephen-hawking-disaster-earth/) in the past, including earlier this year when he called when he said disaster on Earth was a “near certainty.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4575054/stephen-hawking-humans-new-planet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4575054/stephen-hawking-humans-new-planet/"},"headline":"Stephen Hawking Gives Humans a Deadline for Finding a New Planet","datePublished":"2016-11-17T17:09:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:53:31.627Z","description":"“We must...continue to go into space for the future of humanity\"","url":"https://time.com/4575054/stephen-hawking-humans-new-planet/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a1c3817aaa9ac3e/6988aee5428a9e5375cd50bd/stephen-hawking-space-planet.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a1c3817aaa9ac3e/6988aee5428a9e5375cd50bd/stephen-hawking-space-planet.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"stephen hawking space planet","caption":"stephen hawking space planet","creditText":"Karwai Tang—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4575054/stephen-hawking-humans-new-planet/","name":"Stephen Hawking Gives Humans a Deadline for Finding a New Planet"}}]}] ```