The Uniqueness of People
All humanity were created "in the image of God"
(Genesis 1:27) We are Godlike in our self awareness and consciousness of our own actions. How then should we relate to other, possibly superior, beings elsewhere in the cosmos? Do we have less intrinsic value if we turn out to be less intelligent than these foreign lifeforms? Judaism has always had a two-sided view of humanity's importance. We are created in God's image but we are formed from the dust of the Earth. We have an eternal soul but a mortal body. We are insignificant in comparison to God but we are magnificent when compared to all the other creatures on our planet. Though we are central to our Earth, the Talmud (Avodah Zara 3b) speaks of God roaming over thousands of other worlds and some midrashim (e.g. Bereishit Rabbah 3:9) describe how God constantly builds and destroys other worlds. So the impact of meeting alien life would not shatter the Jewish perceptions of humanity's value, it would only humble us. The worth of the human race is seen in our efforts to care for our surroundings, in acting morally and justly in our communities and in having a relationship with our Creator. Our worth is not dependant on us being the smartest, most sophisticated or even only creatures living at the very centre of the universe! 
The Uniqueness of God
Would the discovery of alien life challenge our understanding of God? Judaism does teach us that God is interested in human affairs but it would be sheer arrogance on our part to assume that He has no other concerns. Our existence is dependent on God, but God's existence is independant of our own. Before creation, and long after it is over, God will still be here. All life began on God's drawing board. Just as the discovery of new species of sea creatures on the bottom of the world's deepest oceans reveals the wonder, complexity and breadth of God's creation, so too will the eventual discovery of alien life. The Torah does not begin with the birth of the Jewish people or even with the formation of our little planet. Genesis 1 describes, in very simple terms, the creation of the entire Universe. Judaism defines God as the Creator of all existence. So when we make contact with new lifeforms, even though they will be alien to us, to God they are, like us, another element in Creation.
Terrestrial Torah
Why does Jewish law make no reference, let alone guide us, when it comes to extraterrestrials? As a system of law, or a way of life, halacha (Jewish law) is necessarily concerned with people and their earthly activities. Halacha is pre-eminently the guide for human conduct and is thus person-centred. The absence of extraterrestrials in halacha is not a proof of their non-existence, it reveals only that Judaism is focused on the problems of this planet.
Life on Mars
Hurtling in from space some 16 million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into Mars and exploded with more power than a milllion hydrogen bombs, gouging a deep crater in the planet's crust and lofting huge quantities of rock and soil into the thin Martian atmosphere. While most of the debris fell back to the surface, some of the rocks, fired upward by the blast at high speeds, escaped the weak tug of Martian gravity and entered into orbits of their own around the Sun. After drifting through space for millions of years, one of these Martian rocks ventured close to Earth 13,000 years ago (when Stone Age humans were beginning to develop agriculture) and plunged into the atmosphere, blazing a meteoric path across the sky. It crashed into a sheet of blue ice in Antartica and lay undisturbed until scientists discovered it in 1984.
In August 1996, that rock landed on the front pages of newspapers around the globe and seized the imagination of all the world. American scientists revealed that this well-travelled, 1.9 kg stone (about the size of a large potato) might have brought with it the first tangible evidence that we are not alone in the universe. Tucked deep within the rock are what appear to be the chemical and fossil remains of microscopic organisms that lived on Mars 3.6 million years ago. Said Carl Sagan: "If results are verified, it is a turning point in human history, suggesting that life exists not just on two planets in one paltry solar system but throughout this magnificent universe."
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