NASA is currently looking for someone to protect planet Earth from a potential alien invasion, according to a new job posting on their website.
The “Planetary Protection Officer” position offers a $187,000 per year salary and involves preventing alien life from contaminating Earth, as well as ensuring that astronauts do not damage planets, moons and other objects in space.
Cnbc.com reports: “Planetary protection is concerned with the avoidance of organic-constituent and biological contamination in human and robotic space exploration,” NASA wrote in the job posting on its website late last month.
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Other duties include advising Safety Mission Assurance officials on planetary protection matters and ensuring compliance by robotic and human spaceflight missions.
The role is open to those with “broad engineering experience” and a willingness to travel.
It is not for those shy of responsibility, however. The Planetary Protection Officer role is one of just two such full-time positions in the world, according to Business Insider, and comes at the requirement of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. The other position is with the European Space Agency.
Applications are open until August 14, 2017. The post is for an initial period of three years, though may be extended for an additional two.
