Space agencies like NASA and ESA, along with SETI and other volunteers from the general public have been long searching for aliens. However, even now, humans have not succeeded in finding concrete evidence of extraterrestrials yet.
As the unending search continues, a former NASA scientist has claimed that humans will have a close encounter with aliens in the next few years.
Aliens to be discovered within our lifetime?
The seemingly bizarre prediction is being made by Jim Green, who spent 40 years with the United States space agency.
While speaking on BBC's Hardtalk, Green revealed that alien life will be discovered within his lifetime. He also added that humans are now on the brink of a really astounding discovery that could reshape humanity forever.
"We are making enormous progress. Now we know there are more planets in our galaxy than there are stars. And many of them are in places much like the Earth where we can receive the light from the Sun and we can have water. And not only in liquid form - frozen form and vapour form. These are important conditions we believe for life. We are finding planets that have conditions where life may arise," said Green.
He added, "We are going to be comparing these atmospheres to the ones we know. Are they more Venus-like, are they more Mars-like, or are they more Earth-like? I think we are going to see some really astounding discoveries in the next handful of years."
When Green talked about alien existence on Mars
This is not the first time that Green is talking about the discovery of extraterrestrials.
A few years back, Green had predicted that ongoing NASA missions will discover signs of alien life on Mars in the near future. He also added that humans are not developed enough to accept the realities surrounding extraterrestrial existence.
