Humanity is on the brink of discovering extraterrestrial life, NASA Assistant Director Thomas Zurbuchen said at a congressional hearing.
“With such a wide range of activities in so many sciences related to the search for life, we are on the verge of one of the most fundamental discoveries in history,” he said.
Zurbuchen listed a number of recent NASA achievements, including the discovery of seven Earth-like planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system in the constellation Aquarius. “Billions of planets are awaiting discovery in our Galaxy alone,” the scientist is sure.
The NASA assistant director also recalled the discovery by the Cassini probe of evidence that the subglacial oceans on Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus may contain hydrogen.
“While we have yet to find clear evidence of life elsewhere, our researchers are making remarkable progress and astrobiologists are participating in an increasing number of NASA missions,” Zurbuchen said.
According to him, NASA actively supports research aimed at understanding how life appeared and developed on Earth, what conditions make regions of the Universe capable of developing life, and what is the potential distribution of these worlds outside the Earth.
“We need a convergence of a number of sciences - biology, theology, astronomy, planetology, earth sciences and many others,” he concluded.
The scientist also thanked the House Science Committee hearing that the mission of astrobiology, which searches for extraterrestrial life, is now formally spelled out in the NASA budget as a priority.
Promotional video: