The Action Site to Stop Cassini Earth Flyby
P.O. Box 1999, Wendell Depot, MA 01380 (978)544-7862 info@flybynews.com
On August 18, 1999 NASA will use the Earth in a gravity assist flyby or swingby maneuver that will accelerate the Cassini space probe to 42,000 mph (64,000 km) while only hundreds of miles outside Earth's atmosphere. A miscalculation, equipment failure, space debris or meteor collision could cause a devastating accident. A flyby accident could double the human-made plutonium radiation in our environment.
Earl Budin, M.D., Associate Professor Radiology, UCLA Medical Center, has offered recent studies (see references below) that demonstrate that an alpha particle from a single plutonium atom can cause lung cancer. Why risk releasing such a significant amount of a breathable form of plutonium-238 into our atmosphere for an exploratory space mission?
Steve Jambeck <envirovideo@earthlink.net> of EnviroVideo is completing post-production work of Karl Grossman's new film - renamed "Nukes in Space 2, Unacceptable Risks." EnviroVideo will be authorizing cable networks to air the 29 minute video this fall. NoFlyby has promotional copies of "Nukes in Space 1" and Karl's book, The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program's Threat to Life.
Please reply if interested in subscribing to or in being removed from the NoFlyby e-mail list. We generally send out information on demand or bimonthly. NoFlyby needs your cooperation and unity to be effective to stop plutonium from flying over our heads. We will soon provide information on lobbying members of Congress on the space committees to investigate the Cassini Earth flyby risks. We have one year left to make a statement and impact, before plutonium laden Cassini comes whizzing by.
NoFlyby Coordinators,
Jonathan Haber and Joe McIntire
*References:
The following is a short analysis of the Titan-IV-A explosion
by an Abolition 2000 caucus member, Loring Wirbel:
"Not only does the explosion of the Titan 4A represent an excellent case against Cassini and its ilk, but the cargo -- an Advanced Vortex satellite managed by the National Reconnaissance Office on behalf of the National Security Agency -- hardly works in terms of U.S. or global security. Its tasks have turned away from telemetry studies and order-of-battle analysis, and toward greater and greater broadband interception of civilian communications. This is why the women at Menwith Hill Peace Camp are so opposed to the new radomes at MH supporting the Vortex and Orion satellites. The violation of civil liberties is obvious, but the satellite networks also help to implement the Space Command's Long-Range Plan for 2020, which explicitly calls for U.S. domination of the planet, in violation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The demise of this Vortex should be considered a victory for both civil liberties and anti-space-domination pacifists."Loring Wirbel (lwirbel@igc.apc.org)
CPIS/PPJPC
Colorado Springs, CO
This page was last revised 8/18/98 5:46:49 PM by The NoFlyby Webmaster
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