Elon Musk says Earth needs fossil fuels or 'civilization will crumble'

Elon Musk has recently spoken to reporters about Earth's reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and gas, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO saying the planet can't just jump to renewable energy overnight.

Musk talked to reporters at the ONS foundation conference in Norway, saying that he came to the conference to show his appreciation to the Norwegian people for their support in electric vehicles and sustainable transport. The Tesla CEO and founder was asked his thoughts on fossil fuels such as oil and gas, where he replied that Earth will still need to use fossil fuels or else "civilization will crumble". In order for civilization to function Earth needs oil and gas.

Musk says that any reasonable person would say that Earth needs to continue to harvest fossil fuels in order to keep civilization functioning at an exponential rate. Additionally, the SpaceX CEO says that while fossil fuels need to be harvested there needs to be a simultaneous effort put into accelerating the development into sustainable energy.

In other Elon Musk news, the SpaceX and Tesla founder revealed the meaning behind the swooping "X" in SpaceX, while also warning that there is a much bigger threat to humanity than global warming. Musk took to Twitter to warn his followers to mark his words on the warning.

• Read more: Elon Musk reveals hidden meaning behind the swooping 'X' in SpaceX
• Read more: Elon Musk warns of bigger threat to civilization than climate change

In other space news, NASA recently scrubbed its launch of the Artemis 1 mission, pushing back the launch date to this week where the space agency will send its largest rocket ever on a journey around the Moon. The mission will be vital to future Artemis missions that will involve astronauts traveling around the Moon in Artemis 2 and then landing on the lunar surface in Artemis 3. Additionally, NASA has confirmed that its verified the trajectory of its spacecraft sent to collide with an asteroid.

The space agency revealed via its blog that its DART mission is perfectly on track to smash into the designated asteroid, in a first-of-its-kind test. Impact is scheduled for next month and if the mission succeeds it will be a new planetary defense technique Earth will have in its arsenal.

• Read more: NASA confirms its perfectly on track to collide into an asteroid soon
• Read more: NASA's Artemis 1 launch canceled over engine bleed malfunction