At Press Time: Technology Aids Search For Aliens

National Geographic an-nounced Friday that cutting-edge satellites and telescopes will enable contact to be made with extraterrestrial life sooner than many people expect. A television program detailing this prediction will air on the National Geographic Channel Wed., Nov. 24, at 10 p.m. ET.

New technologies have made it possible to scan the heavens for signs of life as never before, National Geographic reported. From powerful new satellites to incredibly sensitive earth-based telescopes, including one of the largest arrays of radio telescopes ever built on Earth, researchers and scientists are predicting that these cutting-edge technologies hold the promise to prove extraterrestrial life exists.

The experts who participated in the National Geographic project predicted that alien life forms would be detected by 2025. To that end, scientists have discovered more than 130 planets outside our solar system and the findings are continuing. Recent discoveries have identified bizarre forms of life here on Earth living in extreme conditions previously thought incapable of supporting life.