Scientists could find alien life within 40 years, says royal astronomer Martin Rees, former president of the Royal Society, said evidence of whether beings exist not only beyond earth but beyond our solar system, could be found in that time, a newspaper reported. Lord Rees said he believed that astro-physicists could be able to view images of distant planets outside the solar system as soon as 2025. This could potentially lead to the discovery of some form of life on them. When asked what changes could be expected in science in the next 40 years, he said understanding more about the "origin of life, the place where it exists, and whether aliens exist, is going to be crucial," the Daily Mail reported. The astronomer was speaking at the launch of Professor Stephen Hawking's new series Grand Design, due to begin next Thursday on the Discovery Channel. Lord Rees, who has been Astronomer Royal - a senior position within the Royal Household offering advice to the Queen on astronomical matters - since 1995, said: "Within 10 or 20 years we will be able to image other planets like the earth, orbiting other stars. That will be a really exciting subject to see if there is evidence for [extra-terrestrial] life or not. However it was suggested earlier this year that rather more earthbound concerns may hold such research back. It emerged in June that astronomers scanning the universe for signs of extra-terrestrial activity were facing a financial crisis that threatened to stall the 52-year search for intelligent life beyond Earth. The respected SETI Institute in California will be forced to curtail radio telescope operations, which search space for signals from other worlds, unless it can plug a multi-million dollar funding gap.