X-Files experts plotting to hunt for aliens as half of Brits believe they exist

Scientists want to build a “Big Ear” radio telescope to listen for the sound of UFOs and extra-terrestrial tech in outer space.

The ground-based observatory will be built on a remote moor in the UK to detect sound waves from the far reaches of the galaxy.

UFO expert Professor David Clarke, of Sheffield Hallam University, said: “The desire to find evidence that we are not alone in the universe may become one of the defining human quests of the 21st century.

“Opinion polls consistently show that up to half of all Britons believe that ET life exists.”

Experts will be listening for “techno signatures of astro engineering, interplanetary mining and spacecraft propulsion systems that might be expected from advanced civilisations”.

The project signals a dramatic step-up in the search for alien life.

The East Anglian Astrophysical Research Organisation is naming the “Eaarocibo project” after the Puerto Rico space telescope that featured in 1997 movie Contact starring Jodie Foster.

It comes as the US security services prepare to go public next month with details of its military’s close encounters with UFOs.

Britain’s number one alien hunter reckons the world has been blitzed by UFOs and it has been hushed up.

Nick Pope, 55, believes multiple leaks of military-shot videos showing craft off the US West Coast were “just the tip of the iceberg”.

He said: “How many more sightings are going on that we are not seeing? I suspect a lot.

“The Government can no longer get away with dismissing those who have reported sightings of UFOs as cranks.

“If they know what these strange phenomena are then they should be transparent and tell us.

“And if they don’t – well, then we really do have reason to worry.”

President Joe Biden awkwardly left a press conference after being asked what he thought of Barack Obama admitting the government was investigating UFOs.

It comes as the Pentagon confirmed a number of baffling videos of “unidentified aerial phenomena” are genuine.

But when Biden was asked by a reporter to respond to his former boss’s claims, he said: “I would ask him again” before leaving the press conference.