'Wanderers' Imagines What Space Travel Will Become

When some of us imagine the future, things can get a little scary. After all, there's so much we don't know about our solar system, and thinking about the vastness of the universe is enough to induce a panic attack. The things we don't know, though, could be amazing, incredible, beautiful things we will discover someday soon, and a reality where the space travel (and maybe even colonization) becomes accessible to all of us is totally possible. In Erik Wernquist's new short film, Wanderers , he shows off his idea of what the future of humanity in space will look like, and the images in the video are so breathtaking that it's absolutely unbelievable that they're all made as digital recreation of actual locations in our solar system.

Even more awesome about the film? It's narrated by famed astrophysicist and author Carl Sagan. I know what you're thinking: Isn't that kind of impossible, since Sagan's been dead for almost 20 years? Wernquist didn't let that obstacle stand in his way, and took audio from Sagan's reading of his book, The Pale Blue Dot, as the soundtrack that ties the entire film together, and he couldn't have found a more perfect narrator. On his website, Wernquist admits that he didn't get permission to use Sagan's voice, but hopefully that won't hinder the sharing of his film, because it's something everyone should see.

Wernquist also put together a super informative and comprehensive gallery on the movie's site of all the locations depicted in the film, the original source material, and how he altered the images to demonstrate his rendering of the future. If you watch the film, you're definitely going to want to check these out, and then plan to spend the rest of your day staring at your computer in complete awe.

Have four minutes to spare and want to be incredibly inspired — not just by our solar system, but also to fill out a job application at NASA? Check out the film in its entirety below. If we're going to hang out in space in the future, I hope it looks exactly like this:

Image: Wanderers