The STOP CASSINI WEB SITE has become the recipient of a SPECIAL AWARD! This issue gives the details, and other recent STOP CASSINI news.
Thanks, Russell Hoffman, Webmaster, STOP CASSINI
**** STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER Volume #15 ****
Today's Subjects:
By Russell D. Hoffman
Copyright (c) Russell D. Hoffman
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HERE IS THE CITATION:
(in part, see below for full text):
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Your site is hereby proclaimed "Worst Distortion of Science Award" given to various environmental/doomsday organizations whose sole purpose in existance (sic) is to spread unjustified fear among the population. We will post your URL to various bulletin boards in Welch and R.L.M. where REAL science takes place.
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AN ANSWER TO JERAMIE HICKS
(full text of his email to me appears below)
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to:
Jeramie.Hicks@mail.utexas.edu
from:rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Re: Your email notification of our award (full text shown below)
Date: May 28th, 1997
Hi!
Gosh, I finally won something since "worst dancer" and "worst speller" in grade school.
Thank you for your comments. They help show me where my arguments appear weak...
You wrote:
And this funny gem is going up in the Computer Science department office:
"Because there's no science to argue with! There are only conclusions drawn
from selected data."
What do you think science is - random guesses? Where do you think
conclusions are drawn from - my butt?
I changed that one to read: "There are only conclusions drawn from selected data, while other relevant data is ignored." I trust that satisfies you.
You wrote:
"(RTGs) onboard Cassini actually designed to incinerate": Of course they
are. And it's not frightening in the slightest. I'd rather it vaporize 100
miles over my head than land in a lump in my backyard; wouldn't you?
Actually, that goes against most NASA assurances. See this URL, which was put up recently:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/procassi/pellet04.htm
You wrote:
Could you please provide documents to this fact:
"Large sections of the news media will not cover this topic at all because
they are owned by the nuclear industry itself!"
Specifically that refers to NBC and CBS being owned by GE and Westinghouse, and to Sonoma State University awarding Karl Grossman the Project Censored award for 1996 -- for Cassini.
You wrote:
Not once in your entire site did you ever note a problem associated with any
RTG splashdown to date. Each and every entry you have is "What if next time
it lands..." There have been several RTG splashdowns with ZERO resulting
injuries. Not a single documented case of injury arising from a nuclear
splashdown.
This is incorrect. I challenge NASA to prove the Apollo lunar lander made it back to earth. And surely you are forgetting the SNAP 9A? Granted, that one was on purpose... And your idea of zero injuries would be perfect -- if you were a tobacco lobbiest.
You wrote about the RTGs:
They are not a major
source of atmospheric drag, nor are they large enough to be easy targets for
micrometeorites and other space-borne debris.
Not a major source of atmospheric drag? Of course not! That's because they will rip open early in a reentry, and spread their 54 GPHS's just as designed.
Not large enough to be an easy target? How comforting! The micrometeorites will have to really WORK to find the RTGs, which are about 3 feet long and a foot wide, stick out on three sides, and a bb-sized micrometeorite or piece of space debris can destroy them.
Lastly, your arguments against solar panels sound good, but it is nevertheless interesting how often NASA has been able to use solar, in spite of all these objections, most of which would theoretically apply to any mission. It almost makes me think they've solved a lot of these problems. I can't believe Cassini's needs are that difficult to solve any other way besides with RTGs, and if they are, I CERTAINLY can't believe a non-nuclear solution could not be achieved soon with a bit more effort. You are a rocket scientist, aren't you?
You are entitled to your opinions, and that's all they are, because you cannot prove your side (which presumably is that low levels of radiation are harmless, even if they keep accumulating) and I, I am sure you agree, are entitled to mine.
The difference is, if the world goes your way and you are wrong, there will be a growing environmental catastrophe. It the world goes "my" way, and I am wrong, you can still build your RTGs and your nuke plants and your nuke weapons and your nuke subs AFTER you've proven this stuff is benign. You're a long, long ways from that proof. The pro-nuke articles I've seen are lame at best, lies at worst.
Thanks again for the award. Do I get a plaque? Do I get to make a speech? Is there by any chance a cash portion included? It never hurts to ask...
Sincerely, (or close enough)
Russell D. Hoffman
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COMPLETE TEXT OF EMAIL TO US:
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At 10:42 PM 5/27/97 -0400, Jeramie.Hicks@mail.utexas.edu wrote:
Your site is hereby proclaimed "Worst Distortion of Science Award" given to
various environmental/doomsday organizations whose sole purpose in existance
is to spread unjustified fear among the population. We will post your URL to
various bulletin boards in Welch and R.L.M. where REAL science takes place.
The advantages you state as being available for solar power over nuclear devices is highly exaggerated. The large surface area and delicate nature of solar cells poses distinct engineering problems over the compact, solid-state nature of nuclear generators. RTGs do not require an active system to require constant pointing toward a light source; they can be used on a rotation-stabilized craft without problems; and their power supply is independant from the distance and location of the Sun. They are not a major source of atmospheric drag, nor are they large enough to be easy targets for micrometeorites and other space-borne debris. And lastly, the manipulation of huge solar panels is tricky at best.
In fact, expensive errors such as these:
http://nikita.cst.cnes.fr/actualites/news/cp_cnes_97_03_03_uk.html
http://www.tele-satellite.com/tse/online/sat_nimbus_1.html
http://www.ifsi.fra.cnr.it/cerulli/isena/launch.htm
Each and every one of these failures would have been successes today had
they used nuclear power.
Not once in your entire site did you ever note a problem associated with any RTG splashdown to date. Each and every entry you have is "What if next time it lands..." There have been several RTG splashdowns with ZERO resulting injuries. Not a single documented case of injury arising from a nuclear splashdown.
Could you please provide documents to this fact: "Large sections of the news media will not cover this topic at all because they are owned by the nuclear industry itself!"
And this funny gem is going up in the Computer Science department office: "Because there's no science to argue with! There are only conclusions drawn from selected data." What do you think science is - random guesses? Where do you think conclusions are drawn from - my butt?
Just a few thoughts: "(RTGs) onboard Cassini actually designed to incinerate": Of course they are. And it's not frightening in the slightest. I'd rather it vaporize 100 miles over my head than land in a lump in my backyard; wouldn't you?
"This is a battle against proven bad technology": Not at all. Actually, every successfully operating nuclear-powered satellite proves it is good technology. Every splashdown without injuries proves it is good technology. What proof do you have that it is bad?
"typical NASA-speak using typical NASA numbers. I think it is a white-wash being done with hog-wash": hehehe, I love this gem. NASA gives you numbers and figures, and the best thing you can come up with is a lame rhyme that doesn't mean a thing to anybody. Cute. I'd suggest that you work for Hallmark, if it wasn't such an insult to real Hallmark writers.
Well, just be aware that we all received an extremely hearty laugh from your site. People's stupidity is truly boundless. Please enjoy your award.
And to Hoffman:
"Webwiz: Russell D. Hoffman" Oh, by the way, nice ego.
- Jeramie Hicks
Jeramie.Hicks@mail.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin
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RTG issue resolved?
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We have found some information relating to the questions we raised earlier about whether the RTGs (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, which are the nuclear powerpacks aboard Cassini) are in fact actually DESIGNED TO INCINERATE.
The answers were in front of us all the time, in NASA's June 1995 "Final" Environmental Impact Statement for the Cassini Mission. It says that the RTGs are expected to break apart and release the GPHSs (General Purpose Heat Source (Rectangular boxes)) which in turn may or may not release the GISs (Graphite Impact Shell's, which are sausage-shaped), which may or may not break, releasing the plutonium fuel pellets within them.
According to NASA, from 32% to 34% of the Plutonium Dioxide fuel "for all reentry cases studied" was EXPECTED to be released at high altitude, and still more would be released as it falls to earth. And then whatever is left can be released if the pellets strike a hard surface.
This despite NASA claims that the RTGs are designed to CONTAIN the plutonium!
"It is no longer an argument of whether or not there is a dragon, but only about how big the dragon is."
Here is the URL of the latest posting in the discussion of this issue:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/procassi/pellet04.htm
And here is the URL of the relevant NASA pages, scanned in and presented in GIF format:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/feis1995/index.htm
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IS ANYONE AWARE OF STOP CASSINI PROTESTS IN OREGON?
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A reader has inquired abouts groups to join or protests to attend in or near the state of Oregon. If anyone reading this is aware of such things, please send an email to the webmaster at the STOP CASSINI WEB SITE. Thanks.
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REORGANIZED STOP CASSINI HOME PAGE
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We have completely reorganized the STOP CASSINI WEB SITE home page to make it a more effective introduction to the problems the world faces from Cassini and its ilk. If you have not done so recently, I encourage you to check it out! Here's the URL:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/index.htm
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AND IN CONCLUSION...
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Welcome new subscribers! And thanks once again to ALL who subscribe and who are trying to make some difference somehow regarding Cassini. Letters like the "award" are painful, of course, but the encouragement we receive -- from citizens and scientists we trust -- certainly outweighs the pain. Besides that, we KNOW that if you are helping, we probably don't hear about it. But I believe we are ALL making a difference. Please keep up the fight to stop Cassini, NASA's latest nuclear nightmare.
Thanks for reading,
Sincerely,
Russell D. Hoffman
STOP CASSINI webmaster.
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