A priest and other religious experts have been enlisted to assist Earth in dealing with the potential of alien life.
NASA has enlisted the assistance of 24 theologians in an effort to explore how different religions throughout the world might react if they made contact with aliens.
The academics were employed by NASA to participate in a program at the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton University in New Jersey, which received a $1.1 million grant from NASA in 2014.
Among them is Rev Dr Andrew Davison, a British clergyman and Cambridge University theologist who is assisting to advise amid the ever-increasing possibility of discovering alien life.
In his next book, Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine, he addresses the prospect of God producing life elsewhere in the universe, noting that "non-religious people also appear to overstate the obstacles that religious people... would face if faced with proof of alien life."
Former NASA Astrobiology Institute head Carl Pilcher stated that theologians were brought in to "examine the consequences of applying the instruments of late 20th (and early 21st) century science to themes that had been explored in religious traditions for hundreds or thousands of years."
"That's just unthinkable when there are over 100 billion stars in this galaxy, and over 100 billion galaxies in the cosmos," he remarked of Earth being the sole planet in space with life on it.
At the moment, our observational and exploratory space technology is fast progressing, with equipment such as the new James Webb telescope, which launched on Christmas Day, providing a clearer view of the universe. It has been described as a "time machine" capable of observing faraway things emanating light from a distant past.
Furthermore, the European Space Agency's Rosiland Franklin rover, which will dig into Mars' surface, will launch next year.
Meanwhile, Cardiff scientists discovered that ammonia in Venus's atmosphere could be the consequence of biological beings. Researchers also believe that Europa, Jupiter's frozen moon, has liquid oceans beneath its surface that may host life.