NASA is convinced aliens dwell in the Universe.

NASA scientists talked about the probability of discovering organic life in our solar system on Tuesday during their public panel in Washington D.C.

"I believe we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years," said Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist.

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Any life NASA discovers within our solar system will be simple microbes, the essential building blocks for more complicated creatures yet to come. Recent discoveries of water hiding within many of our planetary neighbors led to the public discussion.

Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has long since been considered a primary candidate for extraterrestrial life and many astronomers theorize a vast ocean lies beneath its icy crust. Also, Saturn's moon Enceladus is home to sandy hot springs. Just a few weeks ago, NASA confirmed it has discovered a saltwater ocean on Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede.

NASA experts explained a flurry of recent discoveries that suggest we are closer than ever to figuring out where we might find life in the solar system and beyond.

Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA, mentioned a study that analyzed the atmosphere above Mars' polar ice caps. The study suggests that 50 percent of the planet's northern hemisphere once had oceans up to a mile deep, and that it had that water for a long period of time - up to 1.2 billion years.

Green also described a recent study that used measurements of auroras on Jupiter's moon Ganymede to prove it has a large liquid ocean beneath its icy crust.

Stofan also said getting human field geologists and astrobiologists to Mars would greatly improve the chances of finding fossils of past life on our nearest planetary neighbor.

NASA said recent findings may actually lead to finding life and to do that, NASA needs to look for planets within stars' "habitable zones." Habitable planets need to be at a certain "perfect" distance from a warm body (like Earth is from our Sun). That way, the temperature is just right so that water can exist on the planet in liquid form.

Experts believe life beyond Earth will be found by the next generation of scientists and space explorers, but Green said he hopes it's sooner than that.

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