Humans need to colonize another planet within 100 years or face the threat of extinction, high-profile physicist Stephen Hawking has warned.

In a new BBC documentary called "Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth" set to air later this year, the professor will "present his predictions that the human race only has 100 years before we need to colonize another planet," a press release from earlier this week said.

"With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious."

Previously, Hawking theorized that humanity probably has around 1,000 years left before it becomes extinct. His timeline appears now to have shortened. The famous physicist has issued a number of warnings about the future over the past few years.

At the start of 2016, Hawking warned about the dangers from nuclear war, global warming, genetically-engineered viruses and artificial intelligence (AI).