Cassini: An In-Depth Look
by Russell D. Hoffman Copyright (c) January 30th, 1997
Note: This article is also available in
German,
thanks to the translation efforts of
Marcus Hammerschmitt.
In October, 1997 NASA plans to launch a space probe called Cassini,
which will contain 72.3 pounds of deadly Plutonium 238. This is more
plutonium than any country has ever tried to launch before.
NASA virtually denies the existence of any health risk from exposure
to low-level plutonium. Yet they base their opinions on studies that
are so far out of date as to be laughable (if it didn't lead to such
serious consequences)!
NASA bases much of their information on studies from Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Over 50 years ago! The existence of a hazard from
low-level radiation wasn't even suspected then! But now, we have new
data. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and numerous other more
recent and much better-studied events than the confused aftermath of
World War II have occurred. These unfortunate "experiments" have
proven unequivocally the deadly hazard of
low levels of radiation poisoning -- even, as the expression goes,
vanishingly small levels of radiation. Clear statistical
studies have proven time and again that there is no known minimum
lethal dose from plutonium. Studies in Kiev and in Greece after
Chernobyl. Studies of children living near reprocessing plants in
France. Studies in Scandinavia. And in the United States after Three
Mile Island. Extremely low levels of radiation are still hazardous and
when large populations are exposed, large numbers of cancers result.
I'm not saying there is no minimum lethal dose. There may be a
minimum lethal dose. What I am saying, is we have not found it. Try
as we might (and the nuclear industry has tried pretty hard!) we have
not been able to establish any minimum lethal dose! Plutonium
appears to be potentially deadly in any quantity! This is important,
because it means that when you spread plutonium around, even in very
minute quantities throughout the world, health effects will occur.
Who Says?
NASA says. NASA claims that if a catastrophic accident occurred and the
Cassini probe incinerated in the atmosphere it could cause
2,300 deaths over a 50 year period. Their exact wording,
however, is telling. They appear somehow comforted by the fact
that these deaths would be hard to find. They say the deaths
will be: "...statistically indistinguishable from the normally
occurring cancer fatalities among the world's population".
But all this means is that you would not be able to
calculate which cancer deaths occurred because of their little
science experiment! No-fault insurance because you can't prove it was them.
But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Not by a long shot.
And besides that...
After Chernobyl, many people insisted, especially in the nuclear
power industry, that only a few hundred deaths occurred. Then, a few
thousand. Then ten thousand, tops. Now, few dispute that it is probably
already above 50,000 people and is likely to climb
to over 100,000 before... before what? In the next 1000
centuries Chernobyl will have lost barely 25% of its radioactivity.
The 100,000 deaths are calculated among those who
received a significant exposure from the
initial explosion and fiery release, and from subsequent wind and weather
patterns that blew the radioactivity their way. Not one person in
California who might have breathed in some
radioactive dust and gotten lung cancer is ever counted. They are
just too hard to find. But they are there, and when you
add up all the places as populated as California all around the world,
even 100,000 total deaths may be a low estimate.
In the case of
Chernobyl, subsequent accidents from the still-smoldering site will
undoubtedly kill millions more for thousands of years. The "dead
zone" around Chernobyl is growing larger, and many feel that within a
few centuries as much as several hundred miles around will have to
be evacuated for thousands of generations. Many feel it should be
evacuated now. And no one has even tried to clean it
up. It's still way too hot to go near, they say. So they leave it
for a rainy day, but it won't go away.
How does 72.3 pounds compare with what was lost in Chernobyl and every
other accident? It's an absurd question! It's cumulative. If you
jump out of an airplane, just because you have
fallen 30,000 feet is no reason not to pull the rip cord for the
last 500 feet of descent! Those of us still alive -- and sure that's
most of us but it sure isn't all of us! -- have every
reason to not want to be subjected to yet another nuclear lottery in
which the only winners are a few overpaid and undereducated,
narrow-focused scientists, and the losers are everyone on the planet.
If the Cassini probe survives reentry it could devastate an area as big
as any city, making it uninhabitable instantly for thousands of
years. And a sickening, evil death it would be, too! 72 pounds of black
rain would decimate the land for miles and miles in every direction. And
yet, that's probably safer for the world as a whole (everyone except
those near where it falls) than if Cassini burns up in the upper
atmosphere!
Learn this NOW!
It is vital that these facts be understood by everyone
in modern society. Modern civilization manipulates poisons and chemicals
that cause problems all the time. Substances causing everything from
diarrhea to death in minutes are regularly transported, used, and stored
throughout the world. And breathed and ingested, I might add. But
plutonium is worse, far worse.
Is plutonium so different?
It is. For one thing, plutonium does not exist in nature. Every
ounce of plutonium in existence is man-made. For another, your body
thinks plutonium is iron. It accepts it and tries to use it as though
it were iron--an essential mineral. What a deadly deception!
One of the things plutonium does is cause random mutations
of DNA. DNA is the stuff that we are all made of. If there is any
thing on the planet that mankind can say contains the makings
of his soul, DNA is that thing. It is DNA which holds the genetic
codes for ourselves and all our future generations. It is what makes
a dozen generations of monarch butterflies migrate as a species to
exact spots thousands of miles away. It is what we joyously join
together in the union of sperm and egg. Watson and Crick were
awarded a Nobel Prize for discovering the format
of it -- a double helix. If we are protective of anything, we should
surely be protective of our DNA. Our species is defined by it.
Our children look like us because of it. We are not apes or
beasts because of it.
So we shouldn't act like beasts and spite it.
If we love our children and each other, our sisters and our brothers,
our species and our civilization, or have any hope for humanity at all, we must
be protective of our DNA. Lead aprons during dental visits is only
the very tip of the iceberg. Things that are hazardous to our DNA
should be avoided not just "like the plague", but like the even-more
horrendous, cancerous, make-you-puke-from-chemotherapy disasters that
they are. Plutonium is not something we as a species can live with!
Our DNA separates us from the beasts, but just barely. Only 1% of
human DNA is unique, if even that much! The other 99% appears to
be in common with the beasts! And even if, as some have speculated,
much of the 99% we have in common is useless (we don't
really know) nevertheless we can be sure that it is at most that 1%
which makes us different -- and probably the part we really care
about is even less than that! But it's enough!
Viva la 1%!!!!
The other thing that separates us from the beasts, at least in
theory, is simply that we don't act like beasts.
We don't act like beasts. Or do we?
Plutonium is the deadliest substance known to mankind. This is a
universally accepted truth. Yet NASA would send up 72.3 pounds of this
stuff -- enough to kill everyone on earth many times over, if properly
distributed -- on the grounds that they can:
- A) Prevent a disaster at launch.
- B) Prevent a disaster prior to leaving earth's
gravitational pull.
- C) Prevent a disaster by carefully aiming the Cassini space
probe 312 miles above earth during a 1999 flyby.
That's a tall order:
- A) Prevent a disaster at launch.
- They intend to do this with a rocket type (the Titan) which has
experienced numerous failures over its years of operation. They
can't even claim a good track record. In 1993 a billion-dollar
military spy satellite atop this very type of launch
vehicle blew up. In fact NASA failures are so common, the latest
spectacular explosion of an Atlas Launch Vehicle on January
17th, 1997 did not even make the front page of many newspapers!
And Atlas Launch Vehicles are considered one of
our most reliable!
- B) Prevent a disaster prior to leaving earth's
gravitational pull.
- Any failure which occurs prior to leaving earth's gravitational pull
can result in the probe falling back to earth and burning
up, despite the fact that there is a supposed shield (made of
iridium). This shield is barely the thickness of a fingernail and
cannot survive impact with any of millions of pieces of space debris
already in Near Earth Orbit. If the probe falls in such a way that
the trajectory is particularly shallow there will be plenty of time to
burn right through the shield and then incinerate the plutonium.
Many chemicals are transformed into other compounds and become
harmless when burned. This is not true of plutonium. Actually, rather
than rendering it harmless, burning plutonium is the "best"
way to spread the deadly poison throughout the population!
- C) Prevent a disaster by carefully aiming the Cassini space
probe 312 miles above earth during a 1999 flyby.
-
Yes, it can be done. Physically, it's a great way to get some
extra momentum to make it to Saturn without having to use too big a
rocket. After wrapping around Venus a couple of times and gaining
momentum, the probe can -- and will, if NASA succeeds at this -- be
swung around earth for a 'flyby' and
additional speed gain. But to do this, we must accurately aim it
from millions of miles out in space at a point just 312 miles above
the surface of the earth. That's just 245 miles above the point
where atmospheric drag would slow the probe so it would be captured
by earth's gravitational pull and either crash or burn up in the
atmosphere. It can be done, but can it be
done every time, this time, next time? 245 miles is less than
3 percent of the diameter of the earth. NASA loses control of
satellites all the time! Our last probe to the outer solar
system -- Galileo -- simply refused to unfurl it's antenna and became
crippled! Also underreported -- too common to make the headlines -- was the
mysterious and still-unsolved loss of an AT&T satellite in January,
1997. These things happen all the time. 90% of the satellites
in orbit right now are non-functional and many of them became that
way for no known reason.
Accidents DO happen...
This is not so trivial an issue -- the fact is that Cassini puts
humanity at risk not once but on at least seven separate occasions:
First in the production of the plutonium 238. Then in the building
of the plutonium power generator or "RTG". These have both already
occurred and indeed numerous workers were contaminated.
Then when the RTG is transported and stored at NASA.
Then while it is sitting atop millions of pounds of rocket fuel
prior to launch (and many launches are repeatedly scrubbed in
the last few moments). Then, if the launch button is finally pushed,
one of the most hazardous moments occurs -- firing the initial stage.
Then on through acceleration out of earth's orbit. Finally,
humanity is put at risk once more, and in the worst way, during
the 1999 flyby.
And after all of this, after putting humanity through all this risk,
Cassini itself will suddenly be at its own greatest
peril, at least in terms of the success of the mission.
Another possible glitch?
As Cassini flies out beyond where it can do us any harm,
it will pass through a barrier no man has crossed before. It is a
barrier which is dreaded by millions of computer programmers.
A barrier so tough the U. S. Government has spent millions of dollars
studying it, and so has every major corporation and most smaller ones.
A barrier the Federal Government alone expects to spend from
10 to 30 billion dollars to overcome. It is
a barrier technicians around the world are studying, fearing, and working
on. It is a barrier not of space, but of time. A barrier of the fourth
dimension.
On its way out to Saturn, Cassini will pass through the year 2000.
Even NASA is smart enough to dread this.
But so far, they are not smart enough to fix it.
A July 1996 U.S. Federal Government Year 2000 Report by Chairman of the
Subcommittee on Government Management Stephen Horn says: "NASA, one of
the most innovative, advanced and computer-dependent agencies in the
Federal government, has not prepared a plan to solve the problem and
does not anticipate having a plan completed until March 1997."
Just seven months after completing the plan -- not the
work, mind you, but the plan -- they will send Cassini off into outer space.
So you see, we run a considerable risk of not getting anything
scientifically valuable out of this experiment one way or the other!
NASA does NOT have a tradition of preventing disasters.
NASA and other space agencies have a dismal record and a host of
spectacular failures. NASA has been downsized, reorganized,
scrutinized and large sections have been privatized. It sees itself
in a fight for its very survival. The Russian space agency is
in even worse shape, and is willing to sell us defective nuclear junk
at bargain prices -- junk they themselves cannot afford to launch
into space -- and we're stupid enough to buy it! The plutonium 238 on
Cassini is not the product of our brilliant cold war
strategy -- it's the product of the losing side! It's the hardware
that lost the war, for gosh sakes! We buy this junk from the
Russians!
Every living thing would be affected.
If Cassini has any of the worst-case accidents that are possible, it
won't just be mankind's DNA that will be affected. Every living
thing, from the Giant Redwoods to the lowly but vital plankton of the
sea will be exposed. It's really wrong to only consider the
thousands or millions of deaths that this can cause to humans. Other
living things will suffer as well. This would be a disaster that is
practically unprecedented in history! At least for Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, we had two good excuses! First, there was the little
matter of the war going on. And second, we were not nearly as aware
of all the dangers of ionizing radiation! We are not so stupid now.
We know that 72.3 pounds of plutonium 238 -- a particularly virulent
form of plutonium, by the way -- is enough to sicken and kill millions of
people if distributed properly. And high above-ground burning is
a particularly effective method of distribution.
We have no excuses.
When we look back at events in history, it is easy to forgive some
person or people for horrible things that happened during their times
or for the follies of their ways. The Romans built great aqueducts
but had deadly lead water pipes. In Victorian England it was thought
that virgins were the cure to syphilis. Even our own Thomas Jefferson
owned slaves in his time, yet he is rightfully
honored for setting in motion and setting down on paper the principals
of freedom which still guide us today.
But right now, today and as you read this, right now we know that
what NASA plans to do is sheer, utter lunacy. They are playing a deadly
game of chance with our DNA. There is no way they can control all
the dangers -- you cannot engineer in safety against hazards such as
existing space debris, frozen o-rings, and human error. Yet you
can solve the problem! You can do the experiment
safely! You simply do not use plutonium! It's that easy! The European Space
Agency, which didn't have access to the nuclear option, has developed
a solar battery pack that even NASA -- EVEN NASA! -- admits
could serve the needs of the probe!
Now what's our excuse?
Can we really expect scientists who will not even use the safe alternative
to make all the other difficult decisions correctly as well? No, and
that's why we the people have to learn what is happening and
take control through the courts, through public persuasion, through
all legal means known. All it takes to stop NASA is the united will
of the people. NASA cannot launch if America (and the rest of
the world) wakes up and realizes what is happening.
You cannot call this crud High Tech...
This is old technology. It is proven technology--proven deadly. It is
not "high tech" at all and there is no reason to be proud of anything
that puts humanity at such risk for so little gain.
The liability from a Cassini catastrophe would be in the billions and
billions of dollars, although we have passed laws (which are probably
not valid outside the U.S.A.) artificially limiting Government liability
to slightly under $1 billion. But do you know who pays when your own
government refuses to pay? You do! You pay with medical bills, you
pay with lung cancers and genetic disorders. You pay, but the
government won't pay you. You're on your own on this, so you
might as well protest it now, before it can do you such great harm!
CANCEL CASSINI
Please read our other articles. Print some of them out and share
them with your friends. Email your friends the address of the STOP CASSINI
home page. Add a link to it or to this page.
Contact your congressperson. We must tell NASA we are
watching them, and they've gone too far this time and we
will not allow even one more launch based on the unsafe nuclear option!
DON'T JUST READ THIS, DO SOMETHING!
By Russell D. Hoffman
Related pages at this web site:
- Stop Cassini Home Page
- No Nukes In Space! Not now, not ever.
- Space Debris Home Page
- A series of articles on this shameful problem.
This article has been presented on the World Wide Web by:
The Animated Software Company
http://www.animatedsoftware.com
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
First placed online January 31st, 1997.
Last modified June 3rd, 1997.
Webwiz: Russell D. Hoffman
Copyright (c) Russell D. Hoffman