The current global population is over 7.3 billion people and growing, and many believe the earth's current carrying capacity is around 10 billion people and we are expected to reach that goal by 2062 ( worldometers.info ). Furthermore, with a growing population we will need more resources to support it and since the earth has a decreasing availability of resources, we must find new reserves of these resources that exist on other planets and on asteroids. Additionally, due to overpopulation concerns, we must continue our efforts to find other planets that can support life, so we are not limiting our growth by limiting ourselves to just one.