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Professor Stephen Hawking backs new search for aliens

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Milky Way and AndromedaImage source, NASA
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Professor Hawking says intelligent life elsewhere in the universe could already be aware of us

has launched a new project to find out whether there is life elsewhere in the universe.

The search for intelligent life in space is said to be the biggest yet.

The 10-year effort will listen for broadcast signals from a million of the stars closest to Earth.

The £64m project was launched by the Breakthrough Initiatives group at the Royal Society in London.

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One of the world's most famous scientists, Professor Stephen Hawking, is supporting the project

Speaking at the launch, said: "Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours, aware of what they mean.

"It's time to commit to finding the answer - to search for life beyond Earth.

"We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know."