NASA Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy has said that life beyond Earth was inevitable as scientists found 5,000 planets in the local vicinity of Earth around stars.

“One of the things that’s really been transformative in planetary science over the last two or three decades is realising that water which is a critical building block of life is much more present even in our solar system than we imagined,” she said in an interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN on Saturday.

The host had quoted British astronaut Tim Peake who told CNBC recently that the James Webb Telescope may have already found alien life and they have found a planet that seems to giving strong signals of biological life.

Melroy added that scientists thought asteroids were dry and bodies that had no water. She went on to add that they also had real questions about the moon.

“Now we are finding it places we didn’t expect. Seen those building blocks and our recent sample return from the asteroid Bennu shows not just water but carbon which is another critical building block of life,” he said.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Melroy said and added that she was delighted to biosignatures through the James Webb Telescope. “But the real benefit and the payoff is gonna be when we go to Mars and see if we can find the science of life on our neighbour.”

As far as human presence goes, she said that scientists were trying to set up a blue print and practice on the moon. “But I would like to see us head to Mars. I think with our plans by early 2040s.”