When will humans meet Aliens? Former NASA scientist reveals

Do aliens exist? This is one of those mysteries that is unresolved yet even after years of research. The answer to this unanswered question may only be found once we really meet with extraterrestrial life. However, a former NASA chief scientist, Jim Green thinks humans will have a close encounter with aliens within the next few years. After expressing his belief that life exists beyond our Earth, the former NASA scientists told BBC's HARDtalk that humans will soon discover something "really astounding." According to Green we're making enormous progress as now we know that there are more planets within our galaxy than just the stars.

“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,” Jim Green said to BBC. Green retired as NASA’s Chief Scientist in January this year after his 40 years of service at the US space agency. He expects aliens to be discovered within his lifetime.

He also mentioned the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to help analyse the atmospheres of currently unreachable planets in the galaxy. NASA will be able to deliver some rare images of such planets due to the James Webb Telescope. This will also help NASA scientists to compare the atmosphere of planets that are unreachable to the ones that are known to us already. He shared examples such as if there are more Venus-like or Mars-Like or even Earth-like planets. The former NASA scientist considered it as “a huge step forward” to unwrap some astounding discoveries in the upcoming years.

Do aliens exist in the universe?

Back in October 20221, NASA had shared a new framework that provides context for findings related to the search for life and to understand, "Are we alone in the universe?" Jim Green had offered a sample scale to use as a starting point for discussions among anyone to understand about life beyond our Earth.

“Having a scale like this will help us understand where we are in terms of the search for life in particular locations, and in terms of the capabilities of missions and technologies that help us in that quest,” Green said. NASA blog explained that the scale contains seven levels, a system used inside NASA to rate how ready a spacecraft or technology is to fly. Similarly, this scale will be used to study astrobiology, a field that probes the origins of life on Earth and possibilities of life elsewhere.