Police protect the planet - a career earns nearly 200,000 USD / year of NASA

The mission of protecting the planet not only helps the Earth from alien life such as bacteria, but also protects the life forms in space from us.

The vague anxiety that aliens might one day not only come true, but also embrace the dream of annexing the Earth has always existed. Therefore, NASA has an obscure position: "Planetary protection police".

With a `` super '' salary of up to $ 187,000 per year, this position ensures you a pretty big income, at least until the end of the world actually happens.

The task of protecting the planet not only protects the Earth from alien organisms such as bacteria, but also protects the lifeforms of space from ourselves.

A Viking amphibious ship was disinfected prior to its voyage to Mars in the 1970s. (Image: NASA).

Humans have long hoped to find life in outer space. In the Solar System alone, at least 5 planets may have extraterrestrial life. The five planets with traces of water have appeared as Mars, Europa Moon of Jupiter, Ganymede satellite (Jupiter's largest natural satellite), Enceladus Moon of Saturn and Pluto.

The discovery and search for life requires sending robotic probes or even humans to explore. A robot can contain bacteria, viruses or other biological contaminants from the Earth and humans - nothing more than a giant pollutant.

If something on Earth were lost on another planet, two problems could occur: This contamination makes it difficult for us to be sure whether the organism has discovered originating from the planet as well as exploring or capital. is available from time on Earth. Worse, if alien life existed, the 'uninvited guests' from Earth could pollute the environment on the new planet, even destroying life here.

The planetary police were established after the Treaty of Outer Space was signed in 1967. (Image: Realclearscience)

But pollution brought from outer space back to Earth is always what makes us more worried. When the astronauts made their first trip to the Moon by the Apollo ship, which had just returned to Earth, they were isolated for three weeks to ensure they didn't bring back any unusual creatures from the Moon.

This is not possible when the Moon is a place without air and water and therefore is likely a sterile environment. But in fact, something scary happened.

When the crew of Apollo 12 returned to Earth, they brought back the camera from the unmanned spacecraft Surveyor 3, which landed on the Moon two and a half years earlier. NASA scientists examined the camera and, amazingly, discovered a small set of strep bacteria deep inside.

Strep is a species of bacteria endemic to the Moon. It is possible that bacteria on Earth were accidentally brought aboard the Surveyor and somehow survived the lunar environment.

Further analysis showed that none of the scenarios were correct. The camera was actually invaded by bacteria in the lab after returning to Earth. However, this incident is a warning that the process of spreading bacteria or abnormal life from one world to another is very easy.

Not only protecting the Earth, the police protecting the planet must make sure not to have any pollution caused by the Earth on the rest of the universe.(Photo: Phys).

The work of the Planetary Guard helps ensure that similar biological leaks do not occur, not only for astronauts returning from outside the planet but also for probing robots. This is especially important as NASA continues the long-delayed return of specimens from Mars.

As the name implies, this work mainly collects soil and rock samples from Mars, transporting back to Earth for research purposes. In order to prevent contamination from spreading outside, quality control standards will be established such as disinfection of the spacecraft assembly room, parallel disinfection of the spacecraft before it is put into operation.

Eventually, the spacecraft will self-destruct to help keep things pristine. On September 21, 2003, after eight years of orbiting Jupiter, the aging Galileo spacecraft killed itself. It plunges into the planet's atmosphere to ensure that Galileo will not accidentally crash into Europa, Ganymede or any other Jovian Moon that may be hiding life.

• Turn satellites into traffic police on space