Are you currently unemployed, perhaps done with school, very lonely with little to no friends, and a leeching interest in space and all its endless possibilities? NASA has the perfect job for you! They’re actively seeking a new Planetary Protection Officer.
We can thank technology for a lot of things, including the discovery of new planets. Within the last six years, telescopes have discovered planets that are not only newly visible to us, but may hold the potential for life. NASA has discovered 4000 of these potential-life-sustaining planets and counting. So anyone who thinks we’re alone in the Universe is obviously living under a rock.
NASA wants to protect us. Well, no–they want YOU to protect us. They’ve released a job advertisement that is available to the public on a government-funded recruitment website. So that means that you can actually apply for the position. Your job will entail: traveling to different planets and acquiring samples, protecting Earth from any “organisms and organic constituents” from other planets that may be brought back on one of your missions, and protecting other planets from contaminants that you may bring with you from Earth. Sounds pretty reasonable, especially since they’re paying $160,000 annually.
Check out this clip about the position:
I wonder how the selection process works. Like, what skills do you need to have in order to be qualified? Do you need to have some innate sense of telekinetically knowing whether aliens are on this planet of that? Or do you just need to have a ton of experience playing video games and watching sci-fi movies?
For NASA’s next act, check out Images NASA Picked to Explain Earth to Aliens!
Image Via
