It’s the age-old question: is anybody else out there?

NASA astrobiologist Dr. Richard Hoover thinks he may be closer to finding an answer to that question—and the answer just might be a resounding “yes.”

In the March edition of the Journal of Cosmology, the results of more than 10 years of Hoover’s research in Antarctica have been released. Touted as “startling” and “paradigm-busting,” the Journal has published potential evidence of alien life in the form of fossilized bacteria found on meteorites. According to the article, the ancient bacteria comes from colonies that have survived on comets, moons and other planets.

Hoover said in the Journal article that the possibility of contamination has been ruled out.

“What is both exciting and extraordinary is although many of the bacteria resemble and can be associated with generic species on Earth, there are others which are completely alien,” Hoover said. “Neither I, nor other experts who have seen the evidence, have any idea what these creatures might be.”

According to the Journal article, Hoover fractured the interior of the meteorites and found several species of blue-green algae, which can thrive in the harshest conditions.

Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Astrobiology Center of Cardiff University, has said that the evidence Hoover found on the meteorite, when lined up against other findings and genetic studies, “indicates life has a genetic ancestry which leads over 10 billion years back in time…some of these lifeforms were delivered to Earth in comets.”

In the lead commentary for the article, Dr. R. Joseph suggests that the bacteria found in the meteor is further proof that life on Earth originated from other planets.

Dr. Rudy Schild, a scientist with the Harvard-Smithsonian's Center for Astrophysics and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cosmology, added an editor’s note to the Journal’s article:

"Given the controversial nature of his discovery, we have invited 100 experts and have issued a general invitation to over 5,000 scientists from the scientific community to review the paper and to offer their critical analysis. No other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting, and never before in the history of science has the scientific community been given the opportunity to critically analyze an important research paper before it is published."

While the fossilized undergoes more scrutiny, Hoover is confident in his discovery.

"I believe these findings indicate that life is not restricted to Earth, but is broadly distributed, even outside our solar system" Hoover has said.