05 Sci-Tech

Less than 30% of the world’s ocean floor has been mapped to modern standards, meaning scientists still have a clearer view of the Space, Moon and Mars than of the seabed that covers most of Earth.The global effort known as the Seabed 2030 project has raised mapped coverage from about 6% in 2017 to roughly 28.7% as of early 2026, according to tracking data used by the programme and NOAA. That still leaves more than two thirds of the ocean floor unmeasured in any detailed way.The gap is striking because the oceans cover about 71% of the planet’s surface.

Some good news and some bad news. The good news is that, contrary to earlier fears, Earth will probably never be swallowed by the sun. The bad news, of course, is that none of us will be around to find out.

Scientists have long estimated that in about 5 billion years, the sun will run out of fuel, first expanding into a red giant and eventually becoming a white dwarf that will continue cooling for tens—if not hundreds—of billions of years. Amid this dramatic sequence of cosmic events, the fate of Earth remains uncertain.

Will it be pulled into the expanding red sun and disappear forever? Or, though long since rendered uninhabitable, will it continue orbiting the white dwarf remnant of the Sun until the universe reaches its eventual heat death?

The proposal comes as scientists and space agencies prepare for more ambitious missions that could return samples from the moon, Mars, and other destinations across the solar system.

“Humanity is entering a new era of space exploration, but our planetary protection strategies have not kept pace with the risks associated with returning extraterrestrial samples to Earth,” said paper co-author Frederick I. Moxley, Director of Strategic Threat Analysis and Research Laboratories, an Idaho-based consultancy.