NASA Head Discusses What To Do If We 'Encounter Aliens In Space'

This Is NASA's Guide For When It Encounters Alien Life

If you are ever in space and find yourself meeting an alien, you should know that NASA has a few guidelines you can follow.

Before you get too creative about what these suggestions might be, you should understand the space agency's interpretation of the word alien.

The head of NASA, Charlie Bolden, told IFL science: "...we don’t realistically think we’re going to encounter somebody like you or me."

Most experts believe the definition of extraterrestrial life amounts to microorganisms.

"We do have guidelines for dealing with microbial life if we find it," Bolden said.

"In fact, we have guidelines that prevent us from, for example, on Mars getting too close to a place that may be a source of living organisms, because we don’t want to contaminate that area."

So there you have it, remember not to get too close.

Keeping with our interaction with space, Bolden also agrees with Stephen Hawking on colonising other planets.

"How can anyone disagree with Stephen Hawking! I am, like he, one who believes that the species that will survive forever maybe is a multi-planet species," he highlighted.

"So I agree with him that we need to get off this planet, or at least demonstrate the ability to go out and get off this planet, as does President Obama by the way."

Bolden and Hawking are not the only people who want to get off this planet.

In August, astronaut Buzz Aldrin unveiled detailed plans to research the potential for a Mars settlement.

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