The UK Space Agency had committed £25 million to hunt for Earth-like planets which may hold alien life. Chris Skidmore, the Science Minister, will on Friday announce that the government was backing a project to launch a space observatory to look for rocky exoplanets orbiting at the perfect distance from their own sun to give life a fighting chance.

The mission, called Plato, which stands for Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars, will use 26 small telescopes and cameras which act like the compound eye of an insect to ‘stare at’ up to one million nearby star systems.

Scientists are looking for tell-tale dips in the brightness of stars which suggest a planet has just flown in front of it. Once detected, separate instruments will define whether it sits in the so-called Goldilocks Zone, neither too hot, nor too cold for liquid water to form.

Finally, researchers will study the chemical make up of the atmosphere, hunting for signs of gases like methane which could indicate that life is thriving on the surface.

Mr Skidmore said: “Work to discover Earth-like planets around other stars may eventually lead to us answering the question of whether extra-terrestrial life exists.”