Nasa offering salary for new 'planetary protection officer' to defend Earth from aliens

Nasa is hiring someone who can defend Earth from alien contamination.

The full-time role of “planetary protection officer” will involve ensuring that humans in space do not contaminate planets and moons, as well as ensuring that alien matter does not infect Earth.

The pay is a six-figure salary: as much as $187,000 (£141,000) a year plus benefits.

The job post reads: “Planetary protection is concerned with the avoidance of organic-constituent and biological contamination in human and robotic space exploration.”

Nasa offering salary for new 'planetary protection officer' to defend Earth from aliens

Finally!!

NASA is hiring again...

All of us at ATS will one day be like Randy Quaid in Independence Day...
We've believed in aliens forever and everyone mocked us...
And now NASA is putting out feelers for all us ATSers....

Well, those who have degrees specializing in exobiotic sciences...

My knowledge is more terrestrial but I remember all those years ago as a kid staring up at the west Texas sky wondering how many eyes were staring back...

It remains my dream that, in my lifetime, we will confirm life exists off world...

Because a single celled alien would confirm what I've always known: we are not alone...

And as always I will paraphrase the great Arthur C Clarke who said we either are or are not the only intelligent lifeform in the universe and either thought is terrifying...

Long live the new NASA "planetary protection officer"
Let's hope he or she is an ATS member

-Chris

a reply to: Christosterone

So basically this is just to manage Quarantine for off planet sample's and to ensure no bacteria or virus from her contaminates any other eco system we may encounter on any other world's or even comet's that our probes reach, so a common sense job that will indeed require a lot of work and an expert in biological containment and pathogenic behavior as well as ecological impact of alien species and projected impact of alien species on un contaminated biosphere's.

Not as sexy as it sound's but extremely important and very definitely something that is totally necessary for both our own safety from the potential of contaminating the earth with pathogen's or organism's for which our eco system may have no response and also to ensure we don't do the same thing to any extra terrestrial eco system we may yet encounter.

I thought they had a department for this sort of thing already, unless US budget cut's led to it being closed by some pimple nosed politician or clerk whom did not know what the hell he was doing, maybe there is some truth to the rumor that a pathogen was released in Antarctica from the isolated sub glacial eco system and that they had to contain it fast or it would have been a new plague and just maybe this shook someone up enough that they suddenly realized the importance of this post which should actually be a whole department with many biologists and the resourced of an entire group of expert's behind it.

One job simply does not cut the mustard and for the credential's the applicant is going to have to posses this is actually very poor pay compared to what they could get working for the big pharmacorp's so whomever take's the job will probably be the B grader variety of scientist OR a new scientists wanting to put NASA on there resume but not really intending to stay there because they only want that on there resume to impress those same big pharma whom will pay far more for there work, so this does not cover what is needed, the successful applicant will likely be very good BUT they could probably do a lot better if they paid going rate's based on corporate salaries for top expert's.

a reply to: Christosterone

It's a trap, you'll end up as a human Petri dish in some basement laboratory.

a reply to: Christosterone



So did nasa just watch the movie "life" and freak out ?

Well since NASA claims to also be working on a way to destroy/deflect asteroids from hitting the Earth, then they are probably hiring for "Asteroids: Commander Edition". I want to apply for that one!

ETA

I am away looking for that old Atari computer with the weird joystick.

So they are like a glorified janitor then?

Because it sounds like the purpose of this position is to make sure the humans, equipment, and any samples or artifacts that come back from space are cleaned and sterilized to make sure we on earth aren't eradicated by some rouge interplanetary virus.

Still sounds like a pretty cool job though. I wonder if they get to collect the samples and store them for study.

originally posted by: gpols
So they are like a glorified janitor then?

Because it sounds like the purpose of this position is to make sure the humans, equipment, and any samples or artifacts that come back from space are cleaned and sterilized to make sure we on earth aren't eradicated by some rouge interplanetary virus.

Still sounds like a pretty cool job though. I wonder if they get to collect the samples and store them for study.

Except they have always had that position filled from day 1. We were taught back then about how they treated it all like it had a real chance to carry a virus never seen on Earth.

originally posted by: MisterSpock
a reply to: Christosterone

It's a trap, you'll end up as a human Petri dish in some basement laboratory.

Perhaps,

But I have to admit, this made me laugh and snort!

I wonder what brought this on?

a reply to: Christosterone

and either thought is terrifying...

Why does it have to be terrifying?

You mention Independence day? That movie is a joke.

I think Earthians are being conditioned to fear ET's.

If they wanted to destroy you they would have already.

If they wanted to take your resources, they would have taken them already.

Maybe they are a lot wiser than you think, and if they did want to take resources, they would by taking over our worlds governments by covert means. That way they can keep the humans as resources too.

I believe ET populations are various, just like how human personalities vary.

Why is it a terryfying thought that we might be the only ones in the universe? Whats terryfying about that? Just curious based on the quote.

a reply to: Christosterone

Allready a tread about this
Jwww.abovetopsecret.com...

I wouldn't call it terrifying, but I would call it depressing if we truly are alone.a reply to: ISeekTruth101

originally posted by: OptimusJD
I wouldn't call it terrifying, but I would call it depressing if we truly are alone.a reply to: ISeekTruth101

lol I cannot fathom how it is depressing, we've lived on this planet for so long, we didn't realise there could be life out there till recently. And life on earth has been more than enough to keep ourselves occupied. The world is big enough as it is.

If we found out that there was life out there then yeah that would be very exciting news, but not depressing if there isn't.

I am an optimist and imagine a universe teeming with life...intelligent life...

While possible humanity is to be the progenitor from which all intelligent life in the cosmos arises, I highly doubt it...

To my mind, intellectual prowess is the unavoidable destination of evolution...

Perhaps civilizations exist who are billions of years more advanced than ours...perhaps not...

We cannot fathom the sensibilities of a race of beings who have evolved a few millennia past our current social evolution…
Could you befriend a neighbor born of Inquisition era Span, much less somebody from 5000 BC?
I don't know but if he always wanted to kill me for sinning[by his definition] then our friendship would not go so well
The same social evolution which would cause human inabilities to understand each other would exist even more so with somebody off world…
And with thousands, perhaps millions or even billions of years and social evolution from which to draw upon and define their sensibilities, I doubt we would understand each other...

But I hope they are out there...

Because one day humanity will venture into the expanse because our time on earth has an end date...
It is to the Stars we will return...it's our destiny..

And I find it to be no coincidence that Homo sapien sapien intelligence is driven by exploration....
We are born of wanderlust...wondering what's over that next hill..

I simply hope when we take our rightful place in the stars we join friends who share our same inherent morality...

-Chris

Here's part my campaign speech:

"If I'm elected Planetary Defender, my first act will be to build a wall."

originally posted by: ISeekTruth101
... we've lived on this planet for so long, we didn't realise there could be life out there till recently.

Ancient Greek and ancient Chinese philosophers and scientists often wondered aloud if there were other worlds with other people out there. Scientists, philosophers, and other intellectuals of the 15th and 16th centuries openly considered the same thing. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin (among others of their time) belonged to groups such as the "Lunar Society" that promoted the idea that there was other life out there.

Maybe they didn't know that the stars were solar systems unto themselves, but they did understand that their observable universe seemed to reach out pretty far, and there might be other worlds out there.

So humans' belief in other intelligent life in the universe is not necessarily a new or recent thing.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

Given how long we have existed on this planet as human beings, what you reference is still considered recent.. which is what I meant. Life has gone on, and we have had plenty to keep us questioning and occupied with worldly matters.

To say it would be depressing if we realized that we're the only one's in the universe, just doesn't compute with me. Maybe that's just my opinion.

I'll live out my life, my children will do the same, and for many other generation where I doubt any of them will lose sleep over such a thing.

Others are so keen to worry about what's out there, when there's enough going on here. Not depressing at all.

It's nice to imagine though, and even explore the prospect of alien life. Just don't be sad if there ain't none.

a reply to: Justoneman

You think NASA or one of those agencies found something they aren't telling us about?

Or maybe the person retired and now that position is up for grabs?

originally posted by: ISeekTruth101
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

Given how long we have existed on this planet as human beings, what you reference is still considered recent.. which is what I meant. Life has gone on, and we have had plenty to keep us questioning and occupied with worldly matters.

I agree with your sentiment "Life has gone on, and we have had plenty to keep us questioning and occupied with worldly matters."

However, I think it is likely that humans throughout history (early man as well) felt that there were other worlds out there, somewhere. It seems only natural that if some ancient people could experience finding other unknown people while traveling, they might also imagine that there are other places to travel (and other "people" to find) that are beyond Earth.

Maybe I'm wrong, but thinking that there could be other intelligent life "out there somewhere" just seems like a natural logical deduction given their experiences, and early humans had the virtually the same ability for logical deductions as we have.

Like I said, they may not have a scientific understanding of what "out there somewhere" actually entailed (they didn't understand the stars were solar systems), but that doesn't mean they didn't understand the possibility of other habitable places existing beyond Earth.