The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has joined forces with CSIRO to use the organisation's 64 metre radio telescope, or The Dish, at Parkes in a bid to hunt for alien life in the solar system.

Parkes Radio Telescope operations scientist John Sarkissian said the search would use a quarter of The Dish's time for at least five years from July 2016.

CSIRO will be covered for the cost of operating The Dish in that time along with contributions to an upgrade of the data systems used for the project and other science activities.

"This is great news for Parkes and a boom for Australian astronomers," Mr Sarkissian said.

While he was unsure if there would be any life found in the solar system, Mr Sarkissian said he was pleased to know The Dish would be continuing to operate at a world-class level.

The Dish, along with the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, USA, will point at the million stars closest to Earth and the 100 closest galaxies.

The satellites will be scanning frequencies for telltale bumps in the signal that could mean alien technology was at work.

CSIRO director of astronomy and space science division Dr Lewis Ball said The Dish's position in Central West NSW made it one of the world's premier radio telescopes.

"It has an outstanding ability to detect weak signals that a search like this requires," Dr Ball said.