Wernher von Braun, that Nazi, wanted us to vault deep into space because he believed the Earth would be inhabitable for only 100 to 150 million more years, even though the planet will go on for billions before the sun dies. But how will our continents, the remnants of Pangaea’s division, be formed at that late date? Yale geologist Ross Mitchell thinks he has the answer and it involves the formation of a new supercontinent. From Discover:

“Earth’s modern continents are the fragments of a single, 300-million-year-old supercontinent called Pangaea. This vast landmass once rested on the equator, near where Africa is today. During the age of dinosaurs, tectonic forces slowly tore Pangaea apart. Now geologists predict those same forces will reassemble the pieces into a new supercontinent, named Amasia, about 100 million years in the future.

Ancient rocks and mountain ranges show that the constant movement of Earth’s crust has assembled and ripped apart supercontinents several times before, in a roughly half-billion-year cycle. But pinpointing where the past ones formed has proven difficult, which in turn clouded attempts to forecast the next great smashup.”