If other inhabited planets exist in our galaxy, near-future technology that will be at our disposal within this century, or perhaps even by 2040, may be able to first uncover it. Equipped with both a coronagraph and a larger primary mirror, the next NASA flagship mission after the Nancy Roman Telescope, tentatively code-named the Habitable Worlds Observatory, might be exactly the observatory to first find an inhabited planet. (Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

Science’s three big hopes for finding alien life

Despite all that we’ve discovered, Earth remains the only planet definitively known to possess life. Here’s how to find a second example.

Quick take:

• Throughout the entire history of science, we’ve often searched for signals of life beyond our own world. But despite many false alarms, we have yet to find a second example of life in the Universe.
• We have, however, discovered over 6500 planets outside of our Solar System, and taken many steps forward towards uncovering the history and even the origin of life on our world.
• Although we haven’t found extraterrestrial life in the Universe yet, there are three main paths scientists are exploring to get us there. Here’s how, with a little luck, we might actually find it, and soon.

There are few things in the world that fire our imaginations, as well as our hopes and our fears, like the possibility of finding extraterrestrial life. Science has come remarkably far here in the 21st century:

• uncovering much about the history and origins of life on Earth,
• exploring planets, moons, and distant worlds in situ in our own Solar System,
• discovering thousands of…