The head of the Russian space agency has said that he believes that aliens might be out there in the universe.

Dmitry Rogozin, general director of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said in an interview with Russian media outlet Gazeta.ru: “I believe that the universe is infinite in time and space, so the chance of life in the universe may be infinite.”

He added: “This question excites our minds, and I think it will excite until we find this intelligent life.”

Rogozin, 57, clarified that this did not necessarily mean that the alien life would be intelligent. He said that it could also be a plant or virus, or even cells, although he readily admitted that he had no facts or evidence to back up his belief.

Rogozin also recalled how ExoMars, a joint astrobiology programme Between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos, is geared towards discovering life on Mars. He also tacitly added that the Russian Federation was fully prepared to neutralise any military threats in space from other countries.

He said: “All the missions that we are preparing today, for example, a mission to Mars in conjunction with the European Space Agency, are aimed at finding signs that there was once life on Mars.

“That is, we are looking for life, which means that we believe in it.”