NASA Hiring Planetary Protection Officer

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is hiring a "planetary protection officer" to ensure that humans in space don't bring alien contaminants back to Earth, USA Today reports.

"Planetary protection is concerned with the avoidance of organic-constituent and biological contamination in human and robotic space exploration," reads the job summary. 

"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 intended to return to Earth and its biosphere with samples from extraterrestrial targets of exploration."

The three-year position, with the option of a two-year extension, comes with an annual salary between $124,406 and $187,000.

The only current planetary protection officer, Catharine Conley, told Business Insider that "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."

NASA is looking for applicants with "demonstrated experience planning, executing, or overseeing elements of space programs of national significance," and with "demonstrated skills in diplomacy that resulted in win-win solutions during extremely difficult and complex multilateral discussions."

It also requires an advanced degree in engineering, physical science or mathematics, and since the position entails "secret" security clearance, it is not available to noncitizens.

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