What will it take to drive human beings off the planet Earth and to the stars? (updated)

By Lee Roop | lroop@al.com 
on February 05, 2013 at 4:03 PM, updated February 07, 2013 at 3:51 PM

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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Will it be a giant asteroid? They've hit Earth before and, even though NASA thinks the odds a big one will come anytime soon are very small, scientists do think a significant asteroid could hit the planet sometime. Or will it be nuclear war? We've avoided one for 60-plus years, but will we be able to avoid one forever? Or maybe we'll just exhaust the resources of the planet if our population and lifestyles keep going.The possibilities for global calamity don't stop there -- climate change, anyone? -- so the question for some scientists isn't if humans will eventually need to leave. It's whether we'll be ready when the time comes. Having that conversation and beginning to formulate ways to get to the stars isn't just the province of Hollywood producers. Serious scientists are working on it, and some of them are meeting in Huntsville this week. They'll hold a public forum tonight at Calhoun Community College.

Interstellar workshopsNASA physicist and author Les Johnson explains why he thinks humans will eventually leave the planet Earth and how they might do it. (Video by Lee Roop)Watch video

How serious is the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop? So serious that it is intentionally a challenge to find the workshop's meeting place in Cummings Research Park. That keeps the tin-foil hat guys away, one organizer said.
Attendees and speakers so far have included at least one former astronaut, college professors, engineers and writers. NASA physicist and author Dr. Les Johnson of Huntsville, whose latest book is about this subject, is attending on his own time, and you can watch a video featuring Johnson above. Workshop lecture topics include possible means of interstellar travel, ways to power that travel, and potential destinations for colonization.
Is it silly to plan and work for something you'll likely never see? Humans have done it before, conference participants said. The first stone of the pyramids was laid by someone who didn't know those pyramids would take 100 years to complete, Europeans worked for generations on their great cathedrals, and the construction and maintenance of the dikes that protect the Netherlands has been a 500-year project.
Several discussions Tuesday focused on the energy needed to make the trip. It's a lot, and one goal some attendees agreed to get behind is promoting a project to beam oneterrawatt of solar power back to Earth by 2050.