Physicist Brian Cox on how space travel can save the human race – and why there should be a Mars mission

It’s time to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Professor Brian Cox finally feels optimistic about the survival of the human race – well, he thinks he can be, at least – thanks to advances in private space flight.

The lauded British scientist has previously said he was not at a point where he could be assured about mankind’s survival, it being highly dependant on the next one to two decades, but, speaking recently in Hong Kong, he says: “The big change for me has been commercial space flight.”

His new-found optimism comes after Elon Musk’s SpaceX capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and then make a successful return to earth, this month. Musk believes this public-private partnership with Nasa marks the first major step towards becoming a “spacefaring civilisation”.

While this may be reason enough for some to celebrate, more needs to be done to secure our future on this planet and our possible future as a multiplanetary species. For example, SpaceX’s successful unmanned test mission is just the first of many steps that must be taken before space travel is opened up to paying customers.

“Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are the main players in commercial space flight at the moment,” says the particle physicist. While the 51-year-old admits that these “dynamic entrepreneurs” are putting their money into rocket companies partly for commercial reasons, he says they also see the bigger picture – including the future colonisation of other planets.