Editing Extraterrestrial life (section)

==Government responses==
{{see also|Planetary protection}}

The 1967 [[Outer Space Treaty]] and the 1979 [[Moon Agreement]] define rules of [[planetary protection]] against potentially hazardous extraterrestrial life. [[COSPAR]] also provides guidelines for planetary protection.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Matignon |first=Louis |date=29 May 2019 |title=The French anti-UFO Municipal Law of 1954 |url=https://www.spacelegalissues.com/the-french-anti-ufo-municipal-law-of-1954/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427042210/https://www.spacelegalissues.com/the-french-anti-ufo-municipal-law-of-1954/ |archive-date=27 April 2021 |access-date=26 March 2021 |work=Space Legal Issues}}</ref> A committee of the [[United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs]] had in 1977 discussed for a year strategies for interacting with extraterrestrial life or intelligence. The discussion ended without any conclusions. As of 2010, the UN lacks response mechanisms for the case of an extraterrestrial contact.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 October 2010 |title=Press Conference by Director of Office for Outer Space Affairs |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2010/101014_Othman.doc.htm |website=UN Press}}</ref>

One of the NASA divisions is the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA), also known as the Planetary Protection Office. A part of its mission is to "rigorously preclude backward contamination of Earth by extraterrestrial life."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Kluger |first1=Jeffrey |date=March 2, 2020 |title=Coronavirus Could Preview What Will Happen When Alien Life Reaches Earth |url=https://time.com/5793520/coronavirus-alien-life/ |magazine=Time}}</ref>

In 2016, the Chinese Government released a white paper detailing its [[Chinese Space Program|space program]]. According to the document, one of the research objectives of the program is the search for extraterrestrial life.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wheeler |first=Michelle |date=14 July 2017 |title=Is China The Next Space Superpower? |url=https://particle.scitech.org.au/space/china-next-space-superpower/ |work=Particle}}</ref> It is also one of the objectives of the Chinese [[Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope]] (FAST) program.<ref>{{Cite web |title=China Focus: Earth's largest radio telescope to search for "new worlds" outside solar system |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/11/c_138218290.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711131334/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/11/c_138218290.htm |archive-date=11 July 2019}}</ref>

In 2020, [[Dmitry Rogozin]], the head of the [[Roskosmos|Russian space agency]], said the search for extraterrestrial life is one of the main goals of deep space research. 
He also acknowledged the possibility of existence of primitive life on other planets of the Solar System.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Рогозин допустил существование жизни на Марсе и других планетах Солнечной системы |url=https://tass.ru/kosmos/9160789 |website=ТАСС}}</ref>

The [[CNES|French space agency]] has an office for the study of "non-identified aero spatial phenomena".<ref name="newscientist.com">{{Cite web |date=22 March 2007 |title=France opens up its UFO files |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11443-france-opens-up-its-ufo-files/ |website=New Scientist}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bockman |first=Chris |date=4 November 2014 |title=Why the French state has a team of UFO hunters |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29755919 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The agency is maintaining a publicly accessible database of such phenomena, with over 1600 detailed entries. According to the head of the office, the vast majority of entries have a mundane explanation; but for 25% of entries, their extraterrestrial origin can neither be confirmed nor denied.<ref name="newscientist.com" />

In 2020, chairman of the [[Israel Space Agency]] [[Isaac Ben-Israel]] stated that the probability of detecting life in outer space is "quite large". But he disagrees with his former colleague [[Haim Eshed]] who stated that there are contacts between an advanced alien civilisation and some of Earth's governments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jeffay |first=Nathan |date=10 December 2020 |title=Israeli space chief says aliens may well exist, but they haven't met humans |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-space-chief-says-aliens-may-well-exist-but-they-havent-met-humans/ |website=[[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref>