Exact Date Earth Will Be Destroyed by Sun Released by NASA After Elon Musk’s Warning
by by Basit Jamiu · Legit.ng News · Join- Scientists have confirmed Elon Musk’s warning that life on Earth will eventually be destroyed by the sun, with new research pinpointing when that could happen
- NASA and Tōhō University researchers used advanced simulations to predict Earth’s fate, finding that rising temperatures and dwindling oxygen will make survival impossible by the year 1,000,002,021
- As the sun expands over the next five billion years, Musk continues to push for Mars colonisation
Elon Musk issued a warning this week, cautioning that "eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun."
Now, researchers have confirmed when this apocalyptic event is likely to occur.
A groundbreaking study conducted by NASA and Tōhō University in Japan revealed a precise timeline for the sun’s long-term evolution.
Using advanced supercomputers and mathematical models, scientists forecasted the gradual destruction of Earth's habitability, according to DailyMail UK.
Their calculations suggested that life on Earth would become impossible by the year 1,000,002,021. By then, the sun would have grown significantly hotter and brighter, leading to increased global temperatures and a gradual decline in oxygen levels.
Sun’s red giant transformation
The researchers also determined that within approximately five billion years, the sun would enter its red giant phase. During this stage, the sun would exhaust its hydrogen fuel and undergo a dramatic expansion.
At this point, the swollen red giant would likely engulf Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth, marking the ultimate end of the planet.
This prediction aligns with long-standing warnings from NASA, which previously noted that the sun is still less than halfway through its lifecycle and is expected to last for another five billion years.
Simulations confirm mass extinction timeline
The research, published in Nature Geoscience, utilised year-by-year simulations to predict atmospheric and climatic changes. Scientists ran more than 400,000 simulations to forecast the moment when Earth's biosphere would collapse.
The findings revealed that the increasing brightness of the sun would destabilise Earth's climate, triggering a catastrophic loss of oxygen. As a result, oxygen-producing organisms would gradually disappear, leading to mass extinction.
Ultimately, only anaerobic microbes—organisms that can survive without oxygen—would remain.
According to estimates, Earth's atmosphere, with oxygen levels exceeding one percent of today's levels, would last approximately 1.08 billion years, with a margin of ±0.14 billion years.
Colonising mars as ‘life insurance’
Elon Musk has repeatedly expressed his urgency in pushing for the colonisation of Mars, citing it as a critical safeguard for humanity. Speaking to Fox’s Jesse Watters on May 3, Musk reiterated his belief that Mars serves as "life insurance for life collectively."
"The sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multi-planet civilization because Earth will be incinerated," Musk warned.
NASA funding shift and Trump's involvement
NASA has historically focused on Earth-based space missions, but a significant funding shift under President Donald Trump redirected priorities. On May 1, the Trump administration slashed $6 billion from NASA’s budget, affecting research operations, the International Space Station, and upcoming projects, including the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission.
While controversial, this budget cut paved the way for NASA to allocate over $1 billion to manned space missions, reinforcing America's commitment to human space exploration and Martian colonisation.
Musk has emphasised that Mars must eventually become self-sustaining, explaining that this milestone would mark the true moment when the destiny of life as we know it would be secured.
New Earth with conditions suitable for people found
Legit.ng earlier reported that in a finding published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics recently, a 'super-Earth' planet was found outside of the solar system that could have conditions suitable for life.
According to experts at the University of Oxford, the planet known as HD 20794 d has a mass six times greater than Earth's and orbits within the 'habitable zone' of a star similar to the sun.