In what has been called the "Top
Censored Story of 1996,"
NASA has plans to launch 72.3 pounds of deadly plutonium-238
aboard its Cassini probe to Saturn on October 6, 1997. The
probe is set to be carried into space atop a Titan IV, a
rocket with a history of liftoff disasters.
Assuming the Cassini does make it into space without
scattering its lethal payload throughout southern Florida,
there is another chance for disaster in 1999 when the
probe—flying at 42,300 miles per hour—skirts by at
312 miles above the surface of the Earth, using the
planet’s gravitational field to slingshot it toward
Saturn. According to NASA’s own environmental impact
statement, should an "inadvertent reentry" happen
at that time, "approximately 5 billion of the estimated
7 to 8 billion world population" would be exposed to the
plutonium’s radiation.
Though plutonium has long been considered by scientists to
be the most toxic substance on Earth, this hasn’t
stopped space agencies from putting thousands or even
millions of people at risk by hurling it through our
atmosphere aboard space-bound rockets. Small amounts of
plutonium were used as a power source on the Apollo moon
missions. The Galileo space probe flew into space in 1989
with nearly 50 pounds of the lethal substance. In 1990, the
Ulysses space probe carried more than 25 pounds of plutonium
into space. Just last year, a Russian Mars probe fell apart
in Earth’s atmosphere and scattered a half-pound of
plutonium over Chile and southern Bolivia.
The Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, an
organization that monitors NASA’s activities, has called
for a demonstration at Cape Canaveral on October 4, 1997, to
protest the dangers posed by the Cassini project.
Read other articles by:
Maben, Sandy
Gallegos, Aaron McCarroll
|
Subscribe to Sojourners today at a special introductory price and save $10 off the basic rate! Click here for details.
WE WANT TO HEAR from you! Click here to share your views. Or write to "Letters," Sojourners, 3333 14th St. NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20010; fax (202) 328-8757. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.
|
|
 |
Read other articles by:
Maben, Sandy
Gallegos, Aaron McCarroll
|
