双语：想保卫地球？NASA请你当“行星保卫官”

【来源：易教网 更新时间：2018-08-07】

美国宇航局目前正在寻找一位“行星保卫官”，开出的年薪高达18.7万美元，职责涉及防止外星微生物污染地球，同时确保人类太空探索人员不会破坏其他行星、卫星和太空中的物体。

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

美国国家航天局（NASA）正在招募新成员，负责保护地球免受外来入侵。

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.

“行星保卫官”是一份全职工作，其工作内容包括：监督太空人员以防他们污染各行星和卫星，同时还要确保地球免受外来入侵。

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

NASA开出的薪酬高达6位数：年薪外加奖金可达18.7万美元。

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

职位描述称：“行星保护工作要防止人类和机器人在空间探索过程中产生的有机成分和生物污染。”

The three-year position – with a chance to extend it to five years – was created after the US signed the Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

“行星保护官”的工作期限为3年（有可能会延长到5年）。而该职位是美国于1967年签订《外层空间条约》后设立的。

There is only one other full-time role like it in the world at the European Space Agency, says Catharine Conley, NASA’s only planetary protection officer since 2014 (according to Business Insider). She is relocating to the agency’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance.

据凯瑟琳●康利称，欧洲航天局有一项职位，是全世界范围内唯一类似“行星保护官”的全职工作。康利是NASA自2014年来唯一一位行星保护官（商业内幕网报道），现在在NASA的安全与任务保证办公室工作。

Under the international 1967 treaty, she explained that any space mission must have less than a one in 10,000 chance of contaminating an alien world, including making sure a robot or probe that is travelling past or photographing a planet does not cause harm.

她表示，1967年签订的国际条约规定，所有太空任务必须将污染外星世界的机率降低到万分之一以下，还需确保机器人和正在飞行通过或正在拍摄的探测器也不会造成任何伤害。

“It’s a moderate level,” Ms Conley said. “It’s not extremely careful, but it’s not extremely lax.”

“该规定松紧拿捏得很合适。”康利说，“既没有达到高度小心的程度，也不是非常宽松。”

Similarly, the new employee would work to protect Earth from potential contamination by planets like Mars, which scientists say may have once been covered in water and supported life – and there may be chance of life there now.

同样，新保护官也将致力于保护地球免受火星等行星的潜在污染。据科学家称，这些行星曾经可能被水覆盖，有生物生存——因此，也可能至今仍有生物存活。

The new hire will likely be part of the upcoming Nasa expedition to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. The $2.7bn Europa Clipper mission, approved by Congress, plans to map the moon’s surface and analyse whether it could be habitable. The probe could crash land, however, which is a circumstance the planetary protection officer should prepare for.

新保护官可能还会参与到NASA即将进行的考察Europa（木星的第四大卫星）的项目中。该项目名为Europa Clipper，投资27亿美元，获得美国国会通过，旨在测绘卫星表面并分析其可居住性。但是，行星保护官应有所准备，因为探测器可能会与卫星表面发生碰撞。

Candidates will be required to travel frequently – but like any job, there will be a significant amount of emails, proposals and other reading.

候选人将会频繁参与太空旅程——不过和应聘其它工作一样，参与者会收到大量邮件、建议书及其它材料。

Candidates must have at least one year’s experience as a top-level civilian government employee, and an advanced degree in physical science, engineering or mathematics. They must also have “advanced knowledge” of planetary protection.

该职位要求候选人必须具有至少一年的高级政府雇员工作经历，且在物理、工程或数学方面拥有高等学历。此外，还需精通行星保护相关的“先进知识”。

The position also requires “demonstrated skills in diplomacy that resulted in win-win solutions during extremely difficult and complex multilateral discussions”. The new hire will also receive “secret” security clearance.

该职位还要求候选人具有“杰出的外交本领，能够在非常困难和复杂的多边讨论中提出双赢的解决方案”。招聘过程中还将“秘密”进行忠诚调查。