Nasa job vacancy: Defender of the Earth - must have experience

Nasa is preparing to defend the world from alien "contamination" and searching for a "planetary protection officer" - with a salary of $187,000 (£141,000).

The successful candidate will be based at the Ames Research Center in California and responsibilities include "the avoidance of organic-constituent and biological contamination in human and robotic space exploration".

This could concern a spacecraft returning from a mission with alien microbes on board, says the BBC, or the human impact on other planets in the solar system.

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Catharine Conley, Nasa's planetary protection officer since 2014, told Business Insider only two positions like this exist: "One at NASA and the other at the European Space Agency."

The job dates back to 1967, the website says, "after the US ratified the Outer Space Treaty" - the basis of international space law, which also requires space missions to "have a less than one-in-10,000 chance of contaminating an alien world".

Applicants "need at least one year's experience as a civilian government employee", says the Daily Mirror, as well as "an advanced degree in physical science, engineering or mathematics".

They will also need an "advanced knowledge" of protecting the planet, the newspaper adds.

The Independent says there's a chance the new recruit will be involved with Nasa's expedition to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons that may contain alien life.