A Decade Away From Alien Discovery

Nasa Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan predicts that alien life may be found on other planets within 10 years.

17:20 09 April 2015

Humanity could find alien life on other planets within 10 years; that’s according to Nasa Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan. She added that definitive evidence should be found in around 20 years. 

 

Speaking at a panel discussion broadcast on Nasa TV about the possibility of finding habitable worlds, she said: "We know where to look. We know how to look.

 

"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."

 

However, the first discoveries of life may not be little green men with spaceships; instead, they could be sort of space plankton or pond scum. This is because the solar system contains huge amount of water. In fact, scientists are almost certain that Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede have salt water oceans. Meanwhile, Saturn’s moon Enceladus is thought to have volcanic activity on its ocean floor, heating the water down there to around 93C. It is thought that the three moons have more water than Earth. 

 

Stofan added: "I'm a field geologist; I go out and break open rocks and look for fossils.” 

 

"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."