Fifteen years ago next month, the crew of a U.S. Navy jet fighter made first contact with what some believe was extraterrestrial life.

What they actually made contact with, most likely, was some kind of drone.

Still, first contact is increasing likely, scientists told The Daily Beast. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a decade from now. Maybe much, much farther in the future. For human civilization, that encounter could change everything.

Then again, it probably won’t.

Serious-minded scientists have for decades carefully scrutinized outer space, searching for signals, artifacts, biological markers, or other evidence that life exists beyond Earth.

Some look for microbial life—proof that evolution is underway on other planets and could produce, or already has produced, intelligent life. Others listen for signals from advanced civilizations.

Their search is motivated in part by simple mathematics. Our galaxy alone includes no fewer than four billion planets that are similar to Earth. To believe that something we can classify as “life” could only evolve on our planet is hubris, they explained.

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