Alien resurrection: $135m search for life in outer space rescues Parkes telescope

Radio telescope, which was in danger of closing down due to federal government funding cuts, wins reprieve from project funded by Russian internet billionaire

A $135m search for extraterrestrial life backed by physicist Stephen Hawking has thrown an unlikely lifeline to the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, which was facing closure after successive federal government funding cuts.

The 54-year-old telescope, located in a sheep paddock five hours' west of Sydney, is one of only two observatories chosen for the Breakthrough Listen project, an unprecedented search for alien signals starting in January 2016.