The British astronaut who is set to go into space next year has said that learning how to live and work in space will be essential to the survival of our species.
He is due to spend six months on the International Space Station next year.
Major Peake is currently undergoing intensive training in Germany to prepare for the mission.
He will travel on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and could eat a meal chosen by the public.
"Whether it's an asteroid mission or a Moon mission the ultimate aim is the future exploration of the Solar System and get to Mars on a manned mission," he told BBC News.
"Humanity's aim is to explore the Solar System, not just for the sake of exploration. I genuinely believe it is for the sake of our own survival in the future."
Tim Peake will be going to the ISS in November or December next year. He is currently undergoing intensive training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne where I caught up with him.
I have met Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Chris Hadfield and I wondered how Tim Peake would compare. He came across as incredibly nice and refreshingly normal.
It is because of this that the nation is likely to empathise with him and through his eyes we will witness the wonders of a mission to the International Space Station.
But beneath his easy manner is an ice cool nerve. It was demonstrated most clearly on the day that his mission was announced.
He was quizzed on Newsnight about the value of his mission by Jeremy Paxman. Very few have matched the formidable presenter when he has been in full cry. But Tim Peake handled the grilling with aplomb.
"I was tired before the interview, which I think helped, because it meant I didn't have the energy to get wound up," he confided modestly.
Reaching out
I asked Tim whether he would be reaching out to people on the ground and inspiring them as Chris Hadfield had done when he was on the ISS.
"I certainly hope that the mission will have an inspirational effect. But I'll be doing it my way," he told me.
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