U.S. space agency NASA said Monday it has no pending announcement regarding extraterrestrial life, following a wave of media reports that the U.S. agency is about to announce the evidence of alien life.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, denied such reports in his Twitter account and meanwhile confirmed that NASA scientists have been questing for answers regarding existence of alien life.
"Are we alone in the universe? While we do not know yet, we have missions moving forward that may help answer that fundamental question,"he tweeted.
The wave of media reports emerged after hacking group Anonymous posted a 12-minute video on Youtube, in which a man wearing a mask said in a clearly synthetic voice that Zurbuchen has said in April at a Congressional hearing that "Our civilization is on the verge of discovering evidence of alien life in the cosmos."
"Taking into account all of the different activities and missions that are specifically searching for evidence of alien life we are on the verge of making one of the most profound and unprecedented discoveries in history," the masked man quoted Zurbuchen as saying.
The video, which also touches on the latest discovery regarding Earth-size planets circling the star TRAPPIST-1 and several supposed UFO sightings, has so far been watched by more than 1 million viewers.
However, on reporting the video, few media reports even bothered to contrast the man's claims to the full version of Zurbuchen's statement at the April 26 hearing, during which he also cautioned that "We haven't found definitive signs of life elsewhere just yet."
