Babies born today will witness the first human colony on Mars and other ...

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Today's children could live to see human beings colonise Mars.

That's the vision of one British scientist, who believes the red planet could become our second home within 100 years of space exploration.   

Lewis Dartnell, from the University Of Westminster, says relocation to the planets of the solar system is imminent as technology and medicine continue to advance. 

Together, they could mean babies born in 2019 are able to witness humanity spreading out into space.

In an in-depth interview with Jeff Parsons of the Metro, Dartnell said: 'In the next 100 years, it’s very feasible we will have a self-sustaining colony on the Moon or Mars.

'These could then keep themselves going and serve as a sort of backup file if we suffered some sort of apocalypse event here on Earth.

‘Mars is more likely a destination [than the Moon] because there’s more you can use – the Moon is closer but it’s that much more barren.'

Professor Dartnell's ambitious prediction comes as green activists say Earth is under immense strain from pollution and global warming, meaning an apocalypse could happen. 

However, other experts have rubbished the suggestion of mass migration, saying the Martian environment is too extreme for human life.  

Martin Rees, a professor at Cambridge University, told Vox: 'I disagree with Elon Musk and my late colleague Stephen Hawking who talk about mass immigration to Mars.

'I think that’s a dangerous delusion because Mars will be a more hostile environment than the top of Everest or the South Pole, and dealing with climate change here on Earth is far more important than terraforming Mars.'

He also adds that it's

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