In the hopes of communicating with any aliens out there, scientists will send messages to potentially-habitable planets next year.

Rather than waiting for extra terrestrials to contact Earth, experts have decided to pre-emptively send signals into space. 

But not everyone is convinced by the plan, with experts including Professor Stephen Hawking, warning that if aliens discovered Earth, it could 'end life on Earth'.

San Francisco-based non-profit organization METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International plans to start sending signals into space for extra terrestrials starting in 2018.

Douglas Vakoch, president of METI, said: 'If we want to start an exchange over the course of many generations, we want to learn and share information.' 

Mr Vakoch spoke of the need to send more complex signals out into the universe last year in an interview with Forbes.

He said: 'It's too late to conceal ourselves in the universe, so we should decide how we want to represent ourselves.

'Extraterrestrials may be waiting for a clear indication from us that we're ready to start talking.' 

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