Houston: US space agency NASA has just come out with a series of retro recruitment posters that advertise a series of potential positions it may one day need filled on Mars.
First commissioned in 2009 for an exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex in Florida, the colourful posters feature 'advertisements' for teachers, surveyors and farmers, among a raft of other occupations.
"Have you ever asked the question, what is out there? So have we!" one poster caption reads. "That curiosity leads us to explore new places like Mars and its moons, Phobos and Deimos. Just what lies beyond the next valley, canyon, crater or hill is something we want to discover with rovers and with humans one day too."
Another caption says: "Night owls welcome! If you lived on Mars' moon Phobos, you'd have an office with a view, mining for resources with Mars in the night sky. zettlers below on Mars would see Phobos rise and set not once, but twice in one day!"
NASA has started using posters like these to help people imagine what a future in space may look like. Earlier this year, the agency released a set of prints promoting space tourism. They can all be downloaded for free from the NASA website.
However, it may be a while before all these people are actually needed. NASA released its three-step 'Journey to Mars' plan to colonise the Red Planet in 2015, and does not envision having people living and working in colonies until 2030.
