Physicist Stephen Hawking says humans must spread out in space to survive

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HONG KONG — The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk a disaster will destroy Earth, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday.

Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years, the British scientist told a news conference.

"We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system," added Hawking, 64, who received a rock star's welcome to Hong Kong on Monday.

Hawking said that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next 100 years, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth.

"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said.

The scientist — author of the best-seller "A Brief History of Time" — uses a wheelchair and communicates with the help of a computer because he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease in the United States.

Alan Guth, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, "If he's talking about the next 100 years and beyond, it does make sense to think about space as the ultimate lifeboat. [But] ... I would still think that an underground base, for example in Antarctica, would be easier to build than building on the moon."