Experts and laymen have been on the hunt for alien life elsewhere in the cosmos for centuries – but scientists now believe extraterrestrials may be in our galactic back garden and they are on the brink of discovering it.

Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiologist at the University of Westminster, says the “huge advances” in technology will lead to the discovery of aliens within the solar system in the not so distant future.

Speaking at the New Scientist Live exhibition in London, Prof Dartnell said: “One of the reasons that scientists are hopeful we might find alien life somewhere in the solar system is because we are exploring our local cosmic neighbourhood with machines.

“We’d be looking for life that is fundamentally different from us and most likely single-celled organisms.”

The "most likely single-celled organisms" statement is certainly subject to debate. To read more, click here.