Washington DC, United States

NASA administrator Bill Nelson says that at least a trillion 'Earth-like' planets are there in the entire universe which increases the possibility of alien life.

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He said that NASA has been planning to send back the astronauts to the lunar surface in the days ahead. Four astronauts are set to orbit the moon next year.

"We don't need to go back to the moon just for the moon. We're going back to learn new things. In order for us to go to Mars and beyond," Administrator Bill Nelson said.

The Jezero Crater on Mars, which once existed as a lake on the red planet, was being explored by the Perseverance Rover. According to scientists, several findings suggest that Mars once hosted life and was teeming with rivers. 

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"It's getting samples and it's drilling with this drill, creating these core samples about the size of a cigar and sealing them up in these titanium tubes," explained Nelson. 

Also Read: Aliens may be travelling from one planet to another via meteorites: Study

"We're trying to figure out right now how we're going to go back and get them and bring them back to Earth so that we got an idea of whether or not there was life there," he added.

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NASA has been working with various companies to develop a plan to bring them back which is likely to happen in the 2030s.

NASA's hunt for alien life

The agency, along with Firebird Diagnostics, has been hunting for signs of life on Mars. "NASA's mission is to go out, among other things, and discover whether or not we are alone," Firebird Diagnostics Founder Steven Benner said.

His company is selling a so-called alien DNA. The company uses synthetic properties and this has helped NASA understand the different forms of alternative DNA which might exist.

"It's a big question as to how molecular biology could be done if it was, done by an organism that does not share a common ancestor, a common origin, with you and me," said Benner.

Watch: Earth's inner core rotation slowing down; deceleration of core confirmed: study

Nelson said that they have been hunting for life on other planets. "If you ask me directly, do I think that there are aliens here on Earth? I don't think so. I don't absolutely know. And I don't think the US government is hiding anything from anybody. But if you ask me, 'do I think there's life out there in the cosmos?'"

"I ask our NASA scientists that question. 'How many possibilities in the vastness of this universe are there, that there's another planet like Earth that would be habitable for life as something like we know it?’ They said at least a trillion," he added. 

(With inputs from agencies)