Australia's role in the biggest ever search for alien life has officially begun, with the Parkes Telescope in central west NSW set to play a strategic part in the 10-year journey.

Key points: The $100 million 'Breakthrough Listen' initiative has been underway in the US for almost a year

The $100 million 'Breakthrough Listen' initiative has been underway in the US for almost a year The Parkes Radio Telescope is the only facility in the southern hemisphere to be taking part in the project

The Parkes Radio Telescope is the only facility in the southern hemisphere to be taking part in the project Scientists and engineers have spent the past fortnight installing special hardware in the iconic telescope

The $100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative has been underway in the United States for about nine months.

Overnight, the telescope — affectionately known as the Dish — achieved first light with an observation of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the nearest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri.

According to CSIRO program director John Reynolds, that so-called "exo-Earth" would be a good place to start looking for other life forms.

"Alpha Centauri, or its little companion, Proxima Centauri, is actually the closest star to Earth — it's only 4.3 light years away," Dr Reynolds said.

"Just this year a planet was discovered around Proxima Centauri — it's called an exo-Earth because it has some of the properties of Earth."

The Dish at Parkes is the only facility in the southern hemisphere to be taking part in the project.

Scientists and engineers have spent the past fortnight installing special hardware in the Dish, which they hope will give them unprecedented access to large swathes of the sky that cannot been seen from the northern hemisphere.

The iconic facility helped to televise the Apollo 11 moon landing and recently helped to discover a rarely detected radio signal location, which researchers have suggested could have enormous consequences.

The CSIRO's director of astronomy and space science, Douglas Bock, said this latest project would help etch the Dish into another important chapter of human history.

"This is a national icon, I think nearly 100,000 visitors come to the telescope, and it's also a sign of scientific endeavour more broadly," Dr Bock said.

"I think of astronomy as one of our great assets, so I think this will really reinvigorate the Parkes program and it's very exciting to be commencing."

Search for aliens no easy task

The Parkes facility recently helped to discover a rarely detected radio signal location. ( Supplied: Swinburne Astronomy Productions )

Astronomer Professor Fred Watson said with the large amount of funding, the question of whether aliens exist can be taken seriously.

But he said he was under no illusion it would be difficult.

"You're always going to be searching for a needle in a haystack, that's the bottom line," Professor Watson said.

"Yes, statistically, maybe many intelligent civilisations have come and gone, we simply don't know the answer to that."

Dr Reynolds from the CSIRO was also yet to be convinced other intelligent life exists.

"I'm a bit of a sceptic, but I like the idea," he said.

"I think it is actually real science even though the chance of success is small.

"It's definitely a question that has to be answered and you won't find out unless you actually look."

Professor Watson agreed the question may remain unanswered, but said it would not be a fruitless exercise.

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"The other side of the coin is technical innovation that will come with this, because a significant fraction of the Breakthrough Listen funding is about developing new technologies," he said.

"That will have spin-offs not just in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, but also in other areas of radio astronomy.

"Whichever way you look at it, this is money well spent and it probably does mean at the end of 10 years, maybe there'll be good grounds for renewing the contract."