Organisms isolated from dust gathered from the surface of the International Space Station (ISS) “prove” life does exists outside Earth.

The astonishing claims are set to rock the world of space science and have been hailed as one, if not the “most significant scientific development of the century”.

Samples taken from the surface of the ISS windows are thought to contain living creatures related to plankton or algae, Russian scientists have confirmed in the past few days 

 

The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos insists these are unlikely to have come from Earth and are almost certainly extra-terrestrial in origin.

It has led to British space scientists reiterating claims that not only does life exist on other planets but that alien beings are continually coming to Earth from space.

The discovery is being hailed as near cast-iron proof of the existence of aliens in sensational developments set to change global opinion on the existence of life outside Earth.

 

The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos insists these are unlikely to have come from Earth and are almost certainly extra-terrestrial in origin.

It has led to British space scientists reiterating claims that not only does life exist on other planets but that alien beings are continually coming to Earth from space.

The discovery is being hailed as near cast-iron proof of the existence of aliens in sensational developments set to change global opinion on the existence of life outside Earth.

 

A Roscosmos spokesman said: “The micrometeorites and comet dust that settle on the ISS surface may contain biogenic substance of extra-terrestrial origin in its natural form.

“The ISS surface is possibly a unique and easily available collector and keeper of comet substance and, possibly, of biomaterial of extra-terrestrial origin.”

Space scientists have welcomed the find, claiming they give credence to years of research which has pointed towards the existence of aliens.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, of the University of Buckingham, hopes the “astonishing” discovery will put to bed centuries of speculation.

 

He said: “This is the most significant development of the century not only in the search for life outside Earth but possibly in science.

“These organic particles are almost certainly tiny organisms which have come form space, there is no way they could be the result of contamination from Earth.

“We are closer now than ever before to acknowledging that extra-terrestrial life forms exist, it is a very exciting development.

“For years people have tried to debunk theories of life on other planets, very soon they will simply not be able to do this.”

 

Professor Milton Wainwright, from the University of Sheffield and the University of Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, claims the findings back research carried out by his own team which has isolated similar particles from the stratosphere above Britain.

He said: “These are amazing reports from Russia where scientists are claiming they have found life in cosmic dust on the outside windows of the International Space Station.

“Coming from an official of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, it gives real impetus to what we have been saying for years, that there is life outside Earth. 

 

“We think that one possibility is that the organisms originate from comets, a view which is in line with existing long-standing theories.”

Similar organisms discovered by Professor Wainwright – pictured – were found on the surface of research balloons sent 30 km into the sky above Wakefield, England..

He  believes them to be algae particles, one with an elaborate silicone coat which could not have come from Earth.

He insists it floated down towards out planet after being carried through space probably on the surface of a comet.

 

He said: “This particular sample shows a beautiful structure with a wonderful shape typical of a living organism, probably an algae, with this silicone outer skeleton.

“This was collected from samples taken far too high above the atmosphere to have blown up from Earth.

“Another thing to point out is that their was no other debris like pollen or other dust particles from Earth found with this particle.

“We have to conclude that it came from space, and that there is indeed life in outer space, my sense is that it was probably carried on a comet.”

 

Professor Wainwright believes particles of DNA – the building blocks of life, and other living matter is constantly raining down on earth from space.

He said it is likely genetic information from these particles has been incorporated into terrestrial life through the process of evolution.

He said: “This has been happening for thousands of years, it is just not recognised.

Because these samples contain DNA it could information or code that is being constantly arriving on Earth and playing a role in evolution.

“In any case, it adds to the growing body go evidence that there is indeed life outside Earth.”

 

A team of scientists now believe that a rare form of cosmic ray is coming from far away galaxies 326million light-years away.

Experts had not seen anything like fast radio bursts (FRBs) before 2001 and some speculate they may be signals sent from life on other planets.

Since then, they have found dozens of radio bursts, but they still do not know what causes these rapid and powerful bursts of radio emission.

If the mysterious phenomena is a sign of life in the universe, the latest findings could suggest they is far more widespread than previously thought.

 

Harvard University researchers believe that these signals might be being sent every day.

Scientists who studied ten years of readings from Pierre Auger Observatory, the largest telescope of its kind, now believe they can trace the signal’s path.

If the mysterious phenomena is indeed a sign of intelligent life, the latest findings suggest it is far more widespread than previously thought.

Harvard University researchers believe that these signals might be being sent every day.

 

Their work indicates that at least one FRB is going off somewhere every second.

Extragalactic regions with massive “starburst galaxies” which are producing vast numbers of new stars may be to blame.

Scientists who studied ten years of readings from Pierre Auger Observatory, the largest telescope of its kind, now believe they can trace the signal’s path.

If the mysterious phenomena is indeed a sign of intelligent life, the latest findings suggest it is far more widespread than previously thought.

 

The discovery came after alien hunters from Stephen Hawking's Breakthrough Listen project picked up mystery signals which may have been produced by “extraterrestrial civilisations”.

Professor Karl-Heinz Kampert, the spokesperson for the Auger Collaboration, which involves over 400 scientists from 18 countries, said: “We are now considerably closer to solving the mystery of where and how these extraordinary particles are created, a question of great interest to astrophysicists.

“Our observation provides compelling evidence that the sites of acceleration are outside the Milky Way.”

 Some say it’s obvious we’re not alone, others scorn the very idea and still others yet will hauntingly report their own experiences of alien probings following their casual night-time stroll through the fields of small town America. But with everything from increasingly bizarre reportings from increasingly credible sources, to basic mathematical probability suggesting the likelihood of alien life, these days, scepticism is harder won. Whatever your opinions, you may well find that the following examples have some impact on them. 

 

It’s easy enough to write off much recent phenomena, quoting anything from wayward weather balloons to the perpetuation of the legend and UFO sightings in pop culture providing a cohesive image of extra terrestrials for eye witnesses to draw on should someone cry alien. But what’s slightly harder to dismiss is the ancient evidence (i.e. pre the National Enquirer). Enter the ‘The Madonna with Saint Giovannino’, otherwise known as the UFO painting.

 

Created in the 15th century, it depicts the Virgin Mary and in the backdrop of the painting, a man and his dog staring up at a hovering disk-like object that is suspiciously familiar. And this painting isn’t alone either, with everything from ancient cave paintings to Sanskrit Scrolls all depicting alien life. A sighting even crops up in the Bible in The Book of Ezekiel. Either this is compelling evidence, or humanity has a rich tradition of conspiracy theorists.

  

Back in 1961, astronomer Frank Drake devised an equation by which he could estimate the likelihood of the existence of alien life, taking into account a number of factors including the average number of planets able to support life and the fraction that could go on to support intelligent life. This was then implemented in 2001. The result: statistically, hundreds of thousands of such planets should technically exist.

 

There are more registered sightings of UFOs than there is the word count here to deal with them and the majority of the time, there’s a thorough debunking accompanying them. But throughout history there have been a number that have been harder to explain away, from the to 1853 sighting by a number of students and professors at the Tennessee College campus, to the oft quoted Stephenville Lights case from 2008, with over 200 witnesses spotting the UFO including three policemen who remained anonymous. Consider these compelling cases unsolved.

 

If you’re going to believe any reports of UFOs, you might as well trust those coming from the men who have actually been to space (who usually also come with all their teeth and a P.H.D.). The list of those who have made claims of sightings includes Edgar Mitchell, Cady Coleman and Dr. Brian O’Leary, many also referencing government knowledge of alien existence and cover-ups. Buzz Aldrin has also spoken of his own experience on board the Apollo 11 when they saw something flying alongside them. At first they thought it was the final stage of the detached rocket, until mission control confirmed it was 6000 miles away from them…

 

While some US presidents have released classified files on the subject of UFOs, with Jimmy Carter famously describing his own encounter, others still have been denied access to classified information on the subject altogether, Bill Clinton claiming to be among them. This has led many believers to suggest there’s a cover up afoot. Clinton has been consistently vocal on the existence of aliens and it’s worth noting his opinions on an ‘Independence Day’ situation too. You know, just in case…

Experts from NASA and its partner institutions addressed this question on July 14, at a public talk held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. They outlined NASA's roadmap to the search for life in the universe, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. Watch the video of the event: 
 

"Sometime in the near future, people will be able to point to a star and say, 'that star has a planet like Earth'," says Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet."

NASA's quest to study planetary systems around other stars started with ground-based observatories, then moved to space-based assets like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. Today's telescopes can look at many stars and tell if they have one or more orbiting planets. Even more, they can determine if the planets are the right distance away from the star to have liquid water, the key ingredient to life as we know it.

The NASA roadmap will continue with the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) in 2017, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb Telescope) in 2018, and perhaps the proposed Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets -- those planets that orbit other stars -- expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity. The Webb telescope and WFIRST-AFTA will lay the groundwork, and future missions will extend the search for oceans in the form of atmospheric water vapor and for life as in carbon dioxide and other atmospheric chemicals, on nearby planets that are similar to Earth in size and mass, a key step in the search for life.

"This technology we are using to explore exoplanets is real," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The James Webb Space Telescope and the next advances are happening now. These are not dreams -- this is what we do at NASA."

Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has dramatically changed what we know about exoplanets, finding most of the more than 5,000 potential exoplanets, of which more than 1700 have been confirmed. The Kepler observations have led to estimates of billions of planets in our galaxy, and shown that most planets within one astronomical unit are less than three times the diameter of Earth. Kepler also found the first Earth-size planet to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star, the region where liquid water can pool on the surface.

"What we didn't know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone," says Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever. It is going to take a continuing partnership between NASA, science, technology, the U.S. and international space endeavors, as exemplified by the James Webb Space Telescope, to build the next bridge to humanity's future."

This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth. Finding smaller planets, the Earth twins, is a tougher challenge because they produce fainter signals. Technology to detect and image these Earth-like planets is being developed now for use with the future space telescopes. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away, but the quest is underway.

Said Mountain, "Just imagine the moment, when we find potential signatures of life. Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over -- the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe." 

 

 

Many scientists believe we are not alone in the universe. It's probable, they say, that life could have arisen on at least some of the billions of planets thought to exist in our galaxy alone -- just as it did here on planet Earth. This basic question about our place in the Universe is one that may be answered by scientific investigations. What are the next steps to finding life elsewhere?

Experts from NASA and its partner institutions addressed this question on July 14, at a public talk held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. They outlined NASA's roadmap to the search for life in the universe, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. Watch the video of the event:

Leading science and engineering experts discuss a scientific and technological roadmap to lead to the discovery of potentially habitable worlds among the stars.

Credits: NASA TV

"Sometime in the near future, people will be able to point to a star and say, 'that star has a planet like Earth'," says Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet."

NASA's quest to study planetary systems around other stars started with ground-based observatories, then moved to space-based assets like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. Today's telescopes can look at many stars and tell if they have one or more orbiting planets. Even more, they can determine if the planets are the right distance away from the star to have liquid water, the key ingredient to life as we know it.

The NASA roadmap will continue with the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) in 2017, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb Telescope) in 2018, and perhaps the proposed Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets -- those planets that orbit other stars -- expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity. The Webb telescope and WFIRST-AFTA will lay the groundwork, and future missions will extend the search for oceans in the form of atmospheric water vapor and for life as in carbon dioxide and other atmospheric chemicals, on nearby planets that are similar to Earth in size and mass, a key step in the search for life.

"This technology we are using to explore exoplanets is real," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The James Webb Space Telescope and the next advances are happening now. These are not dreams -- this is what we do at NASA."

Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has dramatically changed what we know about exoplanets, finding most of the more than 5,000 potential exoplanets, of which more than 1700 have been confirmed. The Kepler observations have led to estimates of billions of planets in our galaxy, and shown that most planets within one astronomical unit are less than three times the diameter of Earth. Kepler also found the first Earth-size planet to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star, the region where liquid water can pool on the surface.

"What we didn't know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone," says Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever. It is going to take a continuing partnership between NASA, science, technology, the U.S. and international space endeavors, as exemplified by the James Webb Space Telescope, to build the next bridge to humanity's future."

This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth. Finding smaller planets, the Earth twins, is a tougher challenge because they produce fainter signals. Technology to detect and image these Earth-like planets is being developed now for use with the future space telescopes. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away, but the quest is underway.

Said Mountain, "Just imagine the moment, when we find potential signatures of life. Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over -- the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe."

 

"Sometime in the near future, people will be able to point to a star and say, 'that star has a planet like Earth'," says Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet."

NASA's quest to study planetary systems around other stars started with ground-based observatories, then moved to space-based assets like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. Today's telescopes can look at many stars and tell if they have one or more orbiting planets. Even more, they can determine if the planets are the right distance away from the star to have liquid water, the key ingredient to life as we know it.

The NASA roadmap will continue with the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) in 2017, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb Telescope) in 2018, and perhaps the proposed Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets -- those planets that orbit other stars -- expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity. The Webb telescope and WFIRST-AFTA will lay the groundwork, and future missions will extend the search for oceans in the form of atmospheric water vapor and for life as in carbon dioxide and other atmospheric chemicals, on nearby planets that are similar to Earth in size and mass, a key step in the search for life.

"This technology we are using to explore exoplanets is real," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The James Webb Space Telescope and the next advances are happening now. These are not dreams -- this is what we do at NASA."

Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has dramatically changed what we know about exoplanets, finding most of the more than 5,000 potential exoplanets, of which more than 1700 have been confirmed. The Kepler observations have led to estimates of billions of planets in our galaxy, and shown that most planets within one astronomical unit are less than three times the diameter of Earth. Kepler also found the first Earth-size planet to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star, the region where liquid water can pool on the surface.

"What we didn't know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone," says Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever. It is going to take a continuing partnership between NASA, science, technology, the U.S. and international space endeavors, as exemplified by the James Webb Space Telescope, to build the next bridge to humanity's future."

This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth. Finding smaller planets, the Earth twins, is a tougher challenge because they produce fainter signals. Technology to detect and image these Earth-like planets is being developed now for use with the future space telescopes. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away, but the quest is underway.

Said Mountain, "Just imagine the moment, when we find potential signatures of life. Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over -- the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe."
 https://youtu.be/GNjuz6MO0eU 

Experts from NASA and its partner institutions addressed this question on July 14, at a public talk held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. They outlined NASA's roadmap to the search for life in the universe, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. Watch the video of the event:

Leading science and engineering experts discuss a scientific and technological roadmap to lead to the discovery of potentially habitable worlds among the stars.

Credits: NASA TV

"Sometime in the near future, people will be able to point to a star and say, 'that star has a planet like Earth'," says Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet."
 

NASA's quest to study planetary systems around other stars started with ground-based observatories, then moved to space-based assets like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. Today's telescopes can look at many stars and tell if they have one or more orbiting planets. Even more, they can determine if the planets are the right distance away from the star to have liquid water, the key ingredient to life as we know it.

The NASA roadmap will continue with the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) in 2017, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb Telescope) in 2018, and perhaps the proposed Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets -- those planets that orbit other stars -- expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity. The Webb telescope and WFIRST-AFTA will lay the groundwork, and future missions will extend the search for oceans in the form of atmospheric water vapor and for life as in carbon dioxide and other atmospheric chemicals, on nearby planets that are similar to Earth in size and mass, a key step in the search for life.

"This technology we are using to explore exoplanets is real," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The James Webb Space Telescope and the next advances are happening now. These are not dreams -- this is what we do at NASA." 
 

Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has dramatically changed what we know about exoplanets, finding most of the more than 5,000 potential exoplanets, of which more than 1700 have been confirmed. The Kepler observations have led to estimates of billions of planets in our galaxy, and shown that most planets within one astronomical unit are less than three times the diameter of Earth. Kepler also found the first Earth-size planet to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star, the region where liquid water can pool on the surface.

"What we didn't know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone," says Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever. It is going to take a continuing partnership between NASA, science, technology, the U.S. and international space endeavors, as exemplified by the James Webb Space Telescope, to build the next bridge to humanity's future."

This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth. Finding smaller planets, the Earth twins, is a tougher challenge because they produce fainter signals. Technology to detect and image these Earth-like planets is being developed now for use with the future space telescopes. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away, but the quest is underway.

Said Mountain, "Just imagine the moment, when we find potential signatures of life. Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over -- the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe." 

Many scientists believe we are not alone in the universe. It's probable, they say, that life could have arisen on at least some of the billions of planets thought to exist in our galaxy alone -- just as it did here on planet Earth. This basic question about our place in the Universe is one that may be answered by scientific investigations. What are the next steps to finding life elsewhere?

Experts from NASA and its partner institutions addressed this question on July 14, at a public talk held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. They outlined NASA's roadmap to the search for life in the universe, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. Watch the video of the event: 
 

https://youtu.be/GNjuz6MO0eU

 

Many scientists believe we are not alone in the universe. It's probable, they say, that life could have arisen on at least some of the billions of planets thought to exist in our galaxy alone -- just as it did here on planet Earth. This basic question about our place in the Universe is one that may be answered by scientific investigations. What are the next steps to finding life elsewhere?

Experts from NASA and its partner institutions addressed this question on July 14, at a public talk held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. They outlined NASA's roadmap to the search for life in the universe, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. Watch the video of the event: 

"Sometime in the near future, people will be able to point to a star and say, 'that star has a planet like Earth'," says Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet."

NASA's quest to study planetary systems around other stars started with ground-based observatories, then moved to space-based assets like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. Today's telescopes can look at many stars and tell if they have one or more orbiting planets. Even more, they can determine if the planets are the right distance away from the star to have liquid water, the key ingredient to life as we know it.

The NASA roadmap will continue with the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) in 2017, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb Telescope) in 2018, and perhaps the proposed Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets -- those planets that orbit other stars -- expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity. The Webb telescope and WFIRST-AFTA will lay the groundwork, and future missions will extend the search for oceans in the form of atmospheric water vapor and for life as in carbon dioxide and other atmospheric chemicals, on nearby planets that are similar to Earth in size and mass, a key step in the search for life.

"This technology we are using to explore exoplanets is real," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The James Webb Space Telescope and the next advances are happening now. These are not dreams -- this is what we do at NASA."

Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has dramatically changed what we know about exoplanets, finding most of the more than 5,000 potential exoplanets, of which more than 1700 have been confirmed. The Kepler observations have led to estimates of billions of planets in our galaxy, and shown that most planets within one astronomical unit are less than three times the diameter of Earth. Kepler also found the first Earth-size planet to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star, the region where liquid water can pool on the surface.

"What we didn't know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone," says Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever. It is going to take a continuing partnership between NASA, science, technology, the U.S. and international space endeavors, as exemplified by the James Webb Space Telescope, to build the next bridge to humanity's future."

This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth. Finding smaller planets, the Earth twins, is a tougher challenge because they produce fainter signals. Technology to detect and image these Earth-like planets is being developed now for use with the future space telescopes. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away, but the quest is underway.

Said Mountain, "Just imagine the moment, when we find potential signatures of life. Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over -- the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe." 
 

Recent observations by planetary probes and telescopes on the ground and in space have shown that water is common throughout our solar system and the broader Milky Way galaxy.

Credit: NASA

Humanity is on the verge of discovering alien life, high-ranking NASA scientists say.

"I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we're going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years," NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan said Tuesday (April 7) during a panel discussion that focused on the space agency's efforts to search for habitable worlds and alien life.

"We know where to look. We know how to look," Stofan added during the event, which was webcast live. "In most cases we have the technology, and we're on a path to implementing it. And so I think we're definitely on the road." 

The number of UFO sightings is currently flying at an all-time high, according to data cruncher and blogger Sam Monfort.

The alien expert reckons there have been more than 100,000 recorded UFO sightings in the past 100-plus years.

And Sam is far from the only believer on our planet.

From an "alien autopsy" video dating back to 1995 to a video of fighter jets apparently chasing a UFO over the M5, there are hundreds of videos which people have claimed to be proof of alien life.

There's even a clip of a UFO supposedly attacking a Taliban compound, as well as 'sightings' in Peckham and Warminster.

Most of the videos have been debunked by experts. In the M5 clip, for example, the motorway lorries look like models.

While the Peckham UFOs were "almost certainly Chinese lanterns", former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator Nick Pope told the Sun Online.

He added that "true believers wouldn’t be dissuaded" by evidence the videos are fake.

Meanwhile, popstar Peter Andre claims to have seen "several UFOs" on a family trip to the Nevada desert.

The desert is also the site of America's famous Area 51 - a highly classified military base at the centre of alien conspiracy theories due to scores of of UFO sightings in the area.

Many people believe that aliens live on Mars - while one man claimed there were secret child sex slaves on the planet

Artist Dave Huggins believes he lost his virginity to a busty alien called Crescent - and has fathered 60 'hybrid' babies.

Some people even believe this picture of Jesus' crucifixion - which hangs on the walls of the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Georgia - is proof that aliens visited Earth thousands of years ago.

In July 2017, new research was published that suggested "free-floating" earth sized plants could exist and that some of them may even be able to harbour life.

And at the end of August, alien hunters from the Breakthrough Listen project detected "fast radio bursts" coming from a mysterious cluster of stars – which may have been produced by "extraterrestrial civilizations".

In October 2017, an Australian woman took a picture of what she believed was  a 'flying saucer' hovering over the Great Barrier Reef. Far North Queensland is considered a UFO hotspot, with several sightings of mystery aircraft in the sky over several decades. 

Many scientists believe we are not alone in the universe. It's probable, they say, that life could have arisen on at least some of the billions of planets thought to exist in our galaxy alone -- just as it did here on planet Earth. This basic question about our place in the Universe is one that may be answered by scientific investigations. What are the next steps to finding life elsewhere?

Experts from NASA and its partner institutions addressed this question on July 14, at a public talk held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. They outlined NASA's roadmap to the search for life in the universe, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. 
 

"Sometime in the near future, people will be able to point to a star and say, 'that star has a planet like Earth'," says Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet."

NASA's quest to study planetary systems around other stars started with ground-based observatories, then moved to space-based assets like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. Today's telescopes can look at many stars and tell if they have one or more orbiting planets. Even more, they can determine if the planets are the right distance away from the star to have liquid water, the key ingredient to life as we know it.

The NASA roadmap will continue with the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) in 2017, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb Telescope) in 2018, and perhaps the proposed Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets -- those planets that orbit other stars -- expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity. The Webb telescope and WFIRST-AFTA will lay the groundwork, and future missions will extend the search for oceans in the form of atmospheric water vapor and for life as in carbon dioxide and other atmospheric chemicals, on nearby planets that are similar to Earth in size and mass, a key step in the search for life. 
 

This technology we are using to explore exoplanets is real," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The James Webb Space Telescope and the next advances are happening now. These are not dreams -- this is what we do at NASA."

Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has dramatically changed what we know about exoplanets, finding most of the more than 5,000 potential exoplanets, of which more than 1700 have been confirmed. The Kepler observations have led to estimates of billions of planets in our galaxy, and shown that most planets within one astronomical unit are less than three times the diameter of Earth. Kepler also found the first Earth-size planet to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star, the region where liquid water can pool on the surface.

"What we didn't know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone," says Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever. It is going to take a continuing partnership between NASA, science, technology, the U.S. and international space endeavors, as exemplified by the James Webb Space Telescope, to build the next bridge to humanity's future."

This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth. Finding smaller planets, the Earth twins, is a tougher challenge because they produce fainter signals. Technology to detect and image these Earth-like planets is being developed now for use with the future space telescopes. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away, but the quest is underway.

Said Mountain, "Just imagine the moment, when we find potential signatures of life. Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over -- the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe."

Humanity is on the verge of discovering alien life, high-ranking NASA scientists say.

"I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we're going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years," NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan said Tuesday (April 7) during a panel discussion that focused on the space agency's efforts to search for habitable worlds and alien life.
 

"We know where to look. We know how to look," Stofan added during the event, which was webcast live. "In most cases we have the technology, and we're on a path to implementing it. And so I think we're definitely on the road.                                                                
 Former astronaut John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, shared Stofan's optimism, predicting that signs of life will be found relatively soon both in our own solar system and beyond.

"I think we're one generation away in our solar system, whether it's on an icy moon or on Mars, and one generation [away] on a planet around a nearby star," Grunsfeld said during Tuesday's event.

Many habitable environments

Recent discoveries suggest that the solar system and broader Milky Way galaxy teem with environments that could support life as we know it, Grunsfeld said.

For example, oceans of liquid water slosh beneath the icy shells of the Jupiter moons Europa and Ganymede, as well as that of the Saturn satellite Enceladus. Oceans covered much of Mars in the ancient past, and seasonal dark streaks observed on the Red Planet's surface today may be caused by salty flowing water.

Further, NASA's Curiosity rover has found carbon-containing organic molecules and "fixed" nitrogen, basic ingredients necessary for Earth-like life, on the Martian surface.

Farther afield, observations by NASA's Kepler space telescope suggest that nearly every star in the sky hosts planets — and many of these worlds may be habitable. Indeed, Kepler's work has shown that rocky worlds like Earth and Mars are probably more common throughout the galaxy than gas giants such as Saturn and Jupiter.

And just as the solar system is awash in water, so is the greater galaxy, said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division.

The Milky Way is "a soggy place," Hertz said during Tuesday's event. "We can see water in the interstellar clouds from which planetary systems and stellar systems form. We can see water in the disks of debris that are going to become planetary systems around other stars, and we can even see comets being dissipated in other solar systems as [their] star evaporates them."

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Looking for life

Hunting for evidence of alien life is a much trickier proposition than identifying potentially habitable environments. But researchers are working steadily toward that more involved and ambitious goal, Stofan and others said.

For example, the agency's next Mars rover, scheduled to launch in 2020, will search for signs of past life and cache samples for a possible return to Earth for analysis. NASA also aims to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s — a step Stofan regards as key to the search for Mars life.

"I'm a field geologist; I go out and break open rocks and look for fossils," Stofan said. "Those are hard to find. So I have a bias that it's eventually going to take humans on the surface of Mars — field geologists, astrobiologists, chemists — actually out there looking for that good evidence of life that we can bring back to Earth for all the scientists to argue about."

NASA is also planning out a mission to Europa, which may launch as early as 2022. The main goal of this $2.1 billion mission will be to shed light on the icy moon's potential habitability, but it could also search for signs of alien life: Agency officials are considering ways to sample and study the plumes of water vapor that apparently erupt from Europa's south polar region.

In the exoplanet realm, the agency's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an $8.8 billion instrument scheduled to launch in 2018, will scope out the atmospheres of nearby "super-Earth" alien planets, looking for gases that may have been produced by life.

JWST will scan the starlight that passes through the air of super-Earths, which are more massive than our own planet but significantly less so than gaseous worlds such as Uranus and Neptune. This method, called transit spectroscopy, will likely not work for potentially habitable Earth-size worlds, Hertz said.

Searching for biosignature gases on small, rocky exoplanets will instead probably require direct imaging of these worlds, using a "coronagraph" to block out the overwhelming glare of their parent stars, Hertz added.

NASA's potential Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, which may launch in the mid-2020s if given the official go-ahead, would include a coronagraph for exoplanet observations. 

The astonishing claims are set to rock the world of space science and have been hailed as one, if not the “most significant scientific development of the century”.

Samples taken from the surface of the ISS windows are thought to contain living creatures related to plankton or algae, Russian scientists have confirmed in the past few days.
 

The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos insists these are unlikely to have come from Earth and are almost certainly extra-terrestrial in origin.

It has led to British space scientists reiterating claims that not only does life exist on other planets but that alien beings are continually coming to Earth from space.

The discovery is being hailed as near cast-iron proof of the existence of aliens in sensational developments set to change global opinion on the existence of life outside Earth. 
 

A Roscosmos spokesman said: “The micrometeorites and comet dust that settle on the ISS surface may contain biogenic substance of extra-terrestrial origin in its natural form.

“The ISS surface is possibly a unique and easily available collector and keeper of comet substance and, possibly, of biomaterial of extra-terrestrial origin.”

Space scientists have welcomed the find, claiming they give credence to years of research which has pointed towards the existence of aliens.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, of the University of Buckingham, hopes the “astonishing” discovery will put to bed centuries of speculation. 
 

RESEARCHERS have in the past few days come “closer than ever before” to confirming ALIENS EXIST in our solar system.

GETTY • MILTON WAINWRIGHT

Researchers are getting closer to 'confirming aliens exist' after new data from ISS

Organisms isolated from dust gathered from the surface of the International Space Station (ISS) “prove” life does exists outside Earth.

The astonishing claims are set to rock the world of space science and have been hailed as one, if not the “most significant scientific development of the century”.

Samples taken from the surface of the ISS windows are thought to contain living creatures related to plankton or algae, Russian scientists have confirmed in the past few days.

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The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos insists these are unlikely to have come from Earth and are almost certainly extra-terrestrial in origin.

It has led to British space scientists reiterating claims that not only does life exist on other planets but that alien beings are continually coming to Earth from space.

The discovery is being hailed as near cast-iron proof of the existence of aliens in sensational developments set to change global opinion on the existence of life outside Earth.

Milton Wainwright

Samples taken from the surface of the ISS are thought to contain creatures related to plankton

A Roscosmos spokesman said: “The micrometeorites and comet dust that settle on the ISS surface may contain biogenic substance of extra-terrestrial origin in its natural form.

“The ISS surface is possibly a unique and easily available collector and keeper of comet substance and, possibly, of biomaterial of extra-terrestrial origin.”

Space scientists have welcomed the find, claiming they give credence to years of research which has pointed towards the existence of aliens.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, of the University of Buckingham, hopes the “astonishing” discovery will put to bed centuries of speculation.

He said: “This is the most significant development of the century not only in the search for life outside Earth but possibly in science.

“These organic particles are almost certainly tiny organisms which have come form space, there is no way they could be the result of contamination from Earth.

“We are closer now than ever before to acknowledging that extra-terrestrial life forms exist, it is a very exciting development.

“For years people have tried to debunk theories of life on other planets, very soon they will simply not be able to do this.” 

Planets in the hundreds of billions are likely caught up in the vast whirlpool of the Milky Way galaxy. From Earth, a lonely outpost on one of its spiral arms, we’ve begun to peer across the void. We can already make out, dimly, the light from planets orbiting distant stars. We’ve even tasted a few of their atmospheres by dissecting those faint traces of light.

Just 1.6 times larger than Earth and orbiting in the habitable zone of a sun-like star, Kepler-452b could be one of the best place in our galaxy so far to look for extraterrestrial life. Further investigation will require advanced, space-based telescopes such as those currently in development at NASA. (Artist's concept.) 

But the ultimate goal of NASA's exoplanet program is to find unmistakable signs of current life. How soon that can happen depends on two unknowns: the prevalence of life in the galaxy and how lucky we get as we take those first, tentative, exploratory steps.

Our early planet finding missions, such as NASA’s Kepler and its new incarnation, K2, or the soon-to-be-launched James Webb Space Telescope, could yield bare bones evidence of the potentially habitable worlds. Perhaps K2’s examination of nearer, brighter stars will stumble across an Earth-sized planet in its star’s habitable zone, close enough for follow ups by other instruments to reveal oceans, blue skies and continents. Or James Webb, designed in part to investigate gas giants and super Earths, might find an outsized version of our planet. With a possible launch in the mid 2020s, WFIRST, or the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, could zero in on a distant planet’s reflected light to detect the signatures of oxygen, water vapor, or some other powerful indication of possible life.

But unless we get lucky, the search for signs of life could take decades. Discovering another blue-white marble hidden in the star field, like a sand grain on the beach, will probably require an even larger imaging telescope. Designs are already underway for that next-generation planet finder, to be sent aloft in the 2030s or 2040s.

And when we find life, how will we know? The answer has a lot to do with rainbows. As Isaac Newton recognized, white light shot through a prism (or through curtains of mist seen with the sun at your back) is exposed for what it really is: a band of color spanning violet to red, characterized by “wavelength.” Chemicals and gases in the atmospheres of planets can absorb certain slices of this band, called a spectrum, and leave behind a narrow black gap.

When we analyze light shot by a star through the atmosphere of a distant planet—a technique known as spectroscopy—the effect looks like a bar code. The slices missing from the light spectrum tell us which constituents are present in the alien atmosphere.

One pattern of black gaps might indicate methane, another, oxygen. Seeing those together could be a strong argument for the presence of life. Or we might read a bar code that shows the burning of hydrocarbons; in other words, smog. Even without listening in on their conversations, the aliens’ reasonably advanced technology would be known to us by its pollution.

Light from exoplanets, if passed through a prism, can be spread out into a rainbow of colors called a spectrum. Different colors correspond to different wavelengths of light. Missing colors show up as black lines, indicating specific gases are present, because each gas absorbs light in a specific wavelength (or color). 

Then there’s life as we don’t know it. While it makes sense to search first for something like ourselves, we don’t know yet if that’s really what we should expect. If alien life is organized around different combinations of molecules than life on Earth, we could pick up a robust signature and never even realize it—a smorgasbord of unrecognizable alien gases almost screaming “Life!”

An MIT physics professor, Sara Seager, has decided to tackle this problem by coming up with a roster of possible chemical combinations that could signal the presence of alien life. She and her biochemistry colleagues spent a couple of years churning out computer-generated mixtures of the six main elements associated with life on Earth: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, sulfur and hydrogen. But they were combinations unseen on our planet.

“The theory ended up being, we should maybe consider all potential molecules that could be in gas form,” Seager said recently. “Why not consider all of them? I just combine them in any way possible, like just taking letters in the alphabet and combining them in all ways.”

It’s still a problem to pin down which ones correspond to biologically useful recipes, and which do not.

Still, it might just be a start on the trail of truly alien beings, trafficking in exotic gases and chemicals.

“We’re going to have so few planets, we have to get lucky,” Seager said. “I don’t want to miss anything. I don’t want to miss it because we weren’t smart enough to think of some molecule.”

To find out how about the advanced, space-based telescope technology being developed at NASA to search for life among the stars, read 'Inventing the Future.' 

In recent years, there has been much discussion in astronomy circles over the search for extraterrestrial life, so much so that a new term has been coined for this study: astrobiology. Since there is yet no evidence that life exists elsewhere, astrobiology is a science for which there is no data, or at least no data in support of the science. 

 

Since there is no support for the contention that life exists elsewhere, much attention has been diverted to searching for planetary conditions favorable for life. Mars has been the focus of this attention for a very long time. Mars is about half the size of the earth, and it has at least a thin atmosphere. Water exists on Mars, though likely not in abundance, and what water it does possess is in vapor or solid form. The temperature and atmospheric pressure on Mars are far too low to sustain liquid water. 

 

In recent years, the Mars Express Orbiter detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. Methane is a gas frequently produced by living things, though it can also form inorganically. The gamma ray spectrometer aboard the Mars Odyssey Orbiter detected a significant amount of hydrogen in the top few feet of the surface of Mars, a likely indication of abundant ice. The famous rovers Spirit and Opportunity produced conclusive evidence that liquid water once existed on the Martian surface. This latter point is confirmation of what we have known for decades--photographs from orbiting spacecraft had shown numerous features that are best interpreted as there having been much liquid water on Mars in the past. This would require Mars to have once had a much more substantial atmosphere than now, an atmosphere that provided enough pressure and warmth to sustain liquid water. 

This has exciting possibilities for creationists. First, secular scientists have concluded that Mars, a planet with no liquid water, once experienced a near global flood, all the while denying that such a thing could happen on earth, a planet with abundant water. Second, many creationists think that the earth's atmosphere underwent tremendous change at the time of the Flood. Obviously, at least one other planet did experience a catastrophic change in its atmosphere as well. 

 

The key, or at least the first thing to look for when searching life in other planets, is water. 

The chemical elements in water, hydrogen and oxygen, are some of the most abundant elements in the universe. Astronomers see the signature of water in giant molecular clouds between the stars, in disks of material that represent newborn planetary systems, and in the atmospheres of giant planets orbiting other stars. 

Europa and Callisto, two of Jupiter's moons, may have liquid water oceans beneath a surface crust of ice. In the case of Europa, this ocean may have twice as much water as the whole Earth! Most of the water in the universe, though, is in the form of ice. This ice can come in many forms. 

On Earth, the ice is not as cold or hard as it is elsewhere in our solar system. Here the ice is made up of many grains all tightly pressed together. Between these grains is a thin film of water. It is so thin, we might think it is not even there. But, in fact, there is enough water to allow microorganisms to live there. They feed on the minerals in small amounts of dust trapped within the ice. 

NASA’s quest for habitable planets similar too Earth continues, with a growing list of planets that could sustain alien and human life. There are now a total of 50 exoplanets far beyond our solar system that is of interest to astronomers and astrophysicists across the globe. In the search for exoplanets, the key goal is to find worlds that sit in the habitable “Goldilocks Zone,” a region that is neither too close nor too far from a star, but just close enough to sustain liquid water.

For years NASA considered the habitable zone to be a “remarkably small” portion of space. But research in the field proves the conditions needed to sustain life are much broader than initially presumed. The US space agency said: “In the past 30 years our knowledge of life in extreme environments has exploded.

“Scientists have found microbes in nuclear reactors, microbes that love acid, microbes that swim in boiling-hot water. 

“Whole ecosystems have been discovered around deep sea vents where sunlight never reaches and the emerging vent-water is hot enough to melt lead.

“The Goldilocks Zone is bigger than we thought.”

Our cosmic horizons have grown enormously over the last century, but there is a definite limit to the size of the observable universe. It contains all the things from which light has been able to reach us since the Big Bang, about 14 billion years ago. But the new realisation is that the observable universe may not be all of reality. There may be more beyond the horizon, just as there’s more beyond the horizon when you’re observing the ocean from a boat.

What’s more, the galaxies are likely to go on and on beyond this horizon, but more interestingly, there is a possibility that our Big Bang was not the only one. There may have been others, spawning other universes, disconnected from ours and therefore not observable, and possibly even governed by different physical laws. Physical reality on this vast scale could therefore be much more varied and interesting than what we can observe.

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The universe we can observe is governed by the same laws everywhere. We can observe a distant galaxy and see that the atoms emitting the light are just the same as the ones in the lab. But there may be physical domains that are governed by completely different laws. Some may have no gravity, or not allow for nuclear physics. Ours may not even be a typical domain.

Even in our own universe, there are only so many ways you can assemble the same atoms, so if it is large enough it is possible that there is another Earth, even another avatar you. If this were the case, however, the universe would have to be bigger than the observable one by a number which to write down would require all the atoms in the universe. Rest assured, if there’s another you, they are a very, very long way away. They might even be making the same mistakes.