NASA’s announcement of a press conference on Thursday, December 5, 2010 —  which is expected to talk about life beyond Earth — has led to a new wave of excitement among people across the world as well as several hypothetical theories.

On Wednesday, the US space agency stated on it’s official website: “NASA will hold a news conference at 2 pm EST (1900 GMT) on Thursday, December 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.”

Speculations are running rife across the globe, with enthusiasts discussing the possibility of life on Mars or Saturn’s moons. However, NASA has not commented on anything, and will stick to disclosing the news at the press conference on Thursday.

The NASA press conference will see many renowned persons speaking, including the head of NASA’s astrobiology program – Mary Voytek, as well as a NASA astrobiology research fellow from the US Geological Survey – Felisa Wolfe-Simon, an astrobiologistat of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center – Pamela Conrad, among others.