If there's life on other planets, Russia's space agency Roscosmos is determined to find out.

The federal space program for the next 10 years includes the launches of several devices designed to search for alien life, state news agency RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

From this year until 2025, Roscosmos plans to launch about a dozen research devices, some of which will study dark matter, global climate change and heavenly bodies that could impact Earth, the report said.

The first launch, of Russia's Lomonosov research satellite, is scheduled to take place this year, the report said, citing a draft of the new federal space program.

Next year Russia will reportedly help launch the ExoMars-1 interplanetary space station, part of a collaborative project with the European Space Agency, to search for life on the Red Planet.

Earlier this month the chief scientist at the U.S. space agency NASA, Ellen Stofan, said she was confident that scientists will uncover definitive evidence of alien life in the next 10 to 20 years.

Quelle: The Moscow Times