The public is invited to apply to NASA's Planetary Protection Officer position, a full-time job with the main concern of "avoidance of organic-constituent and biological contamination in human and robotic space exploration." Yes, reader, that means the government is hiring a Ghostbuster, but, like, for aliens.
The job description continues:
NASA maintains policies for planetary protection applicable to all space flight missions that may intentionally or unintentionally carry Earth organisms and organic constituents to the planets or other solar system bodies, and any mission employing spacecraft, which are ntended [sic] to return to Earth and its biosphere with samples from extraterrestrial targets of exploration.
Per Business Insider, there are only two such positions in the entire world: this one and a similar one at the European Space Agency. Catherine Conley, the woman who, until now, occupied this position, told the site "This new job ad is a result of relocating the position I currently hold to the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, which is an independent technical authority within NASA."
The role requires a three-year minimum with the organization with the possibility of extending your tenure another two years. Also, it pays somewhere between $124,406 to $187,000 a year, the job posting explains.
Conley also said this Literal Alien Defender job is a "moderate-level" position: "It's not extremely careful, but it's not extremely lax." Unclear how not extremely careful or not extremely lax one can be, but presumably, that means E.T.-types are still allowed.
You can find the job posting in full here.
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Tess Koman covers breaking (food) news, opinion pieces, and features on larger happenings in the food world. She oversees editorial content on Delish. Her work has appeared on Cosmopolitan.com, Elle.com, and Esquire.com.
