At the end of November last year, while listening to the National Public Radio news on KZYX, I was stunned and alarmed by the information a NASA spokesperson was giving about the Cassini Probe to Saturn. The NASA spokesperson stated that NASA was loading 70 pounds of plutonium 238 onto the Saturn Probe and a definite launch date was set for October, 1997. He went on to say that the odds for a launch failure for this type of rocket was 1 in 16, but he thought that record could be improved to, say, 1 in 20. The Saturn Probe would be sent into a "slingshot" trajectory, first around the planet Venus a few times and then across the Earth's orbit in 1999, coming within 300 miles of Earth itself at speeds of up to 46,000 miles per hour, and if the NASA calculations were just a little bit off, it was possible that the Saturn Probe could be caught in Earth's gravitational field. In that case, the 70 pounds of plutonium 238, along with the entire probe, would be vaporized in Earth's upper atmosphere and this would affect five to seven billion people.
My first thought was, "I'll never live to see the year 2,000 and neither will a lot of other people. Dr. Helen Caldicott has stated that, properly distributed, one pound of plutonium could give 99% of the Earth's population lung cancer and that plutonium is one of the few substances that will cross the placental membrane and damage the developing baby.
Already a probe to Pluto has been announced for launch in 1999 using the same "slingshot" trajectory, which uses the gravitational field of Venus and then the Earth to boost the probe's speed before its journey to outerspace.
The European Space Agency has announced that research done in Germany and Italy has produced solar cells that will power all deep space probes. Solar power for deep space probes is available for use right now.
The grassroots organization to contact for further information is: The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, c/o the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, POB 90035, Gainesville, Florida, 32607; phone number (904) 468 -3295.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
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