China is looking for asteroid observers and they must have a clear political position

The Chinese government has issued a striking vacancy. They are looking for three people for their ‘planetary defense force’. The new workers will have to conduct research into the monitoring of asteroids that come close to the earth and set up a system to warn China early for a potential collision between an asteroid and our planet.

The astronomy program is looking for three people to keep an eye on the asteroids and they are part of the sixteen new employees of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (Sastind), which supervises the space activities of The country.

Candidates for the job must at least have a master’s degree and have a background in astrophysics. Knowledge of earth and space exploration technology, astronomy, optical technology or air and space science and technology is also required. But the vacancy also has some other special requirements. For example, candidates may not be older than 35 and they must have a “steadfast political position”, in line with the ruling Chinese Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping.

With the new vacancies, China shifts an acceleration higher after the discovery of 2024 YR4, an asteroid the size of a football field. According to the American space program NASA, it would have a chance of 2.3 percent to collide with the earth in 2032. The European space program ESA could not exclude a collision.