NASA: We are not alone

NASA says in the next two decades we could find alien life.

In a panel discussion at the Washington headquarters Monday, the agency said it's highly unlikely we're alone in the universe.

It believes advancements in telescope technology will help confirm the existence of other life on at least one of the 100 million worlds in our galaxy.

MIT professor Sara Seager explains, "Small planets are extremely common...1 in 5 sun-like stars may have a planet that is favorable, not too hot, not too cold but just right for life."

NASA outlined a plan to search for extraterrestrial life and announced the launch of another satellite, the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite, in 2017. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star outside the solar system.

Right now there are three big telescopes searching for signs of habitable conditions in space: The Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler Space Telescope.

Hubble

Spitzer

Kepler

Kepler has already found the majority of thousands of potential exoplanets believed to exist. Scientists believe every single star in the Milky Way has one potentially habitable planet.

The Webb Space Telescope will join the search in 2018.