The hacker collective Anonymous has released a video repeating others' claims that NASA is on the verge of announcing contact with alien life.

The video, released Tuesday on an unofficial YouTube channel claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous, repeats the text of three articles from the conspiracy website Ancient-Code.com.

The video, which runs with advertising, has garnered over half a million views.

Recent discoveries both in our solar system and beyond have in fact boosted the hopes of those who long for first contact with alien life.

Recent discoveries both in our solar system and beyond have in fact boosted the hopes of those who long for first contact with alien life

In April, scientists announced that the Cassini space probe had discovered hydrogen on the Saturn moon of Enceladus, the 'missing ingredient' that could support microbial life on the seafloor of the icebound moon.

And just this month, scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center revealed the 'most reliable' catalog yet of potential planets in our galaxy, bringing the total to 4,034.

According to the scientists, over 2,300 planets spotted during the Kepler missions have been confirmed so far, including over 30 terrestrial-sized planets that lie in the 'Goldilocks Zone' of their star considered conducive to life.

The new findings represent an explosion in knowledge about potential havens for alien life on other planets.

'Only in the last few decades have we been able to detect the existence of other worlds,' said House Committee on Science Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smithin an April 26 hearing. 'The pursuit of evidence of life beyond our planet fascinates the American people.'

Science: Hydrogen gas, discovered in high-powered jets of water during Cassini's deepest plunge, is now said to be 'a potential source of chemical energy that could support microbes on the seafloor of Enceladus,' researchers revealed during a NASA press conference

The Anonymous video opens by reading the text of an article responding to that Congressional hearing and predicting the imminent announcement of the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

That article, and two other read aloud in the video, appeared on the website Ancient Code between January and April of this year, DailyMail.com can confirm.

The articles, published on the Ancient Code website, which appears to be registered in Croatia, ran without bylines.

They quote NASA associate administrator Dr Thomas Zurbuchen in a speech made during a congressional hearing on 'Advances in the Search for Life' in April.

Dr Zurbuchen said: 'Our civilisation is on the verge of discovering evidence of alien life in the cosmos.

'Taking into account all of the different activities and missions that are specifically searching for evidence of alien life we are on the verge of making one of the most profound and unprecedented discoveries in history.'

In its video, Anonymous takes this statement, as well as several of NASA's recent discoveries, as evidence 'something is going on in the skies above'.

But in his speech, Dr Zurbuchen was referencing advances in humanity's ability to search for life, rather than any specific piece of recent evidence.

Facts: Of the 4,034 exoplanet candidates identified so far, 2,335 have now been verified. Researchers say the findings could ultimately help guide the search for alien life, offering 'the most complete and reliable accounting of distant worlds to date'

These advances include the discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 'sister solar system' earlier this year, which has seven potentially Earth-like planets orbiting its star.

'The TRAPPIST-1 system is just 39 light years away and its discovery tells us that there is plenty of planet making material in our little corner of the solar system, indicating that finding Earth-like planets may actually be closer to us than we originally thought,' Dr Zurbuchen said at the April hearing.

'Future study of this planetary system could reveal conditions suitable for life.'

The associate administrator specifically stated in the speech that NASA has yet to find 'definitive' signs of life outside of Earth.

'While we haven’t found definitive signs of life elsewhere just yet, our search is making remarkable progress and astrobiology is a focus of a growing number of NASA missions,' Dr Zurbuchen said.

'One such mission is NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has found evidence that ancient Mars did have the right chemistry to have supported microbial life as well as evidence that the raw ingredients for life to get started existed on the red planet at one time,' he added.

And contrary to the claims made in the Anonymous video, Dr Zurbuchen suggested in his speech that Nasa has yet to find signs of alien life.

'For astrobiology, the key thing to remember is that answering the fundamental question of “is there life out there?” will require scientific breakthroughs from many different science fields, including ones that are not currently engaged in this exciting endeavor,' he said.

'This, however, demonstrates the nature of great research: It’s not just about answering questions that have been asked in the past, it is about finding entirely new questions that will have impact for a long time to come.'

NASA is yet to respond to MailOnline's request for comment.