A new job, which is similar to what Will Smith did in the movie series "Men in Black", was released by NASA for finding the right person to protect the Earth.
The position, titled planetary protection officer (PPO), comes at the requirement of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. The job has a "secret" security clearance, and noncitizens aren't technically eligible, according to Business Insider.
According to the job description that NASA posted on the USAJobs, the U.S. government's official employment site, main duties of the PPO include preventing alien microbes from spreading to Earth and ensuring humans don't contaminate planets, moons, and other objects in space.
Qualified candidate must have at least an one-year experience in broad engineering as top-level civilian government employee, and have advanced knowledge of planetary protection and all it entails. Also, a candidate needs to accept continual business trips since "frequent travel may be required" by the space agency.
For those who do not meet the criteria, the PPO position with the European Space Agency is another one of the only two such full-time positions in the world, Business Insider reported.
"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," Catharine Conley, NASA's only planetary protection officer since 2014, told Business Insider in an email on Tuesday.
The annual salary of the PPO position at NASA is 124,406 U.S. dollars to 187,000 U.S. dollars according to the USAJobs.
