SpaceX posts job-listing for farmer to help 'advance the course of human history'

SpaceX, the US-based firm that states its ultimate mission as "advancing the course of human history and pave the ways to Mars", has posted an unusual job listing to fill the role of a farmer.

The online job advert appears alongside other positions on SpaceX's careers page that include Avionics Integration Engineer, Director, Launch Operations and Propulsion Structural Analyst (Dragon Systems).

"We are not like most companies," the advert states. "Our goal is to do what has never before been done - enabling mankind to live on other planets. We push the boundaries of what is currently possible, and understand it takes rare individuals to help us make this happen.

"We seek future colleagues with a rare mix of drive, passion, scrappiness, intelligence, and curiosity to seek what's beyond the stars."

Conjecture on social media suggested that the job advert was reminiscent of the 2006 Hollywood film The Astronaut Farmer, in which Billy Bob Thornton plays a rancher who builds a rocket in his barn with the ambition of piloting it into space.

From the SpaceX job description, however, it seems that there will be no extra-terrestrial duties for the potential farmer.

Requirements include a "minimum of 10 years of row drop farming in the central Texas area" and a "working knowledge of every process required for crop production in the region".

An additional requirement to work around test schedules in order to ensure the crop production does not interfere with testing progress suggests that the job will involve taking care of the land around the company's launch site.

IBTimes UK has contacted SpaceX to request more details on the position but no response has yet been given.