- In mourning the tragedy of the Columbia shuttle, the
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power In Space stresses that
it came as NASA has been moving to greatly expand its program to use nuclear
power in space and underscores why deadly atomic materials must not be
used in space operations.
In what it calls Project Prometheus, NASA seeks to broaden its $1 billion
Nuclear Systems Initiative begun last year and include development of a
nuclear-propelled rocket.
Moreover, NASA is planning for additional nuclear-powered space probe launches
and to put atomic power to other space uses, noted Global Network Coordinator
Bruce Gagnon.
"While Columbia did not appear to have a nuclear payload on-board,
consider the consequences if a rocket powered by a nuclear reactor came
down in pieces over Texas or elsewhere on earth," said Professor Karl
Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of New York and
author of "The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program's Nuclear Threat To
Our Planet," narrator of "Nukes In Space" television documentaries
and a Global Network board member.
In coming months-in May and June -- NASA intends to launch from Florida
two rockets both carrying rovers to land on Mars, rovers that are equipped
with plutonium-powered heaters. The Global Network has been conducting
demonstrations to protest these launches.
Gagnon points out that NASA's own Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
says that "the overall chance of an accident occurring" for each
launch "is about 1 in 30" and "the overall chance of any
accident that releases radioactive materials to the environment is about
one in 230. "People offsite in the downwind direction...could inhale
small quantities of radio nuclides" the NASA EIS says.
"These are high odds for disaster which could impact-as NASA admits-on
people as far as 60 miles from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida,"
said Gagnon.
"These and other NASA space shots involving materials must be cancelled
in the wake of the Columbia disaster and safe space energy systems be used
instead," stressed Gagnon.
Said Grossman: "Space exploration is dangerous but to include nuclear
poisons in the equation makes any accident far, far more deadly-and it
is unnecessary. In recent years there have been breakthroughs in energizing
space systems safely especially through the use of solar technologies.
But NASA under Director Sean O'Keefe is partnering with nuclear interests
to heavily nuclearize U.S. space operations. The Columbia disaster must
show us the awful folly of this atomic space path."
In recent years Congress has cut funding for the space program (in particular
funding for shuttle maintenance) and NASA has turned to the Pentagon for
financing of many of its missions. NASA's O' Keefe said upon taking the
helm of the space agency that all future missions will be dual use - with
the military now in control of the space program.
Loring Wirbel, a technical editor and Global Network board member based
in Colorado, stressed that "the shuttle accident occurring on re-entry,
which is always been touted as much safer than launch, should serve as
proof that NASA's planned nuclear propulsion program is far too dangerous
to be considered."
Also, "the hazards involved in aggressive space use also suggest that
broader military use of space for first strike warfare or weapons in space
is a dangerous game," said Wirbel.
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083
Gainesville, FL 32607 (352) 337-9274 http://www.space4peace.org globalnet@mindspring.com
-
- http://www.space4peace.org globalnet@mindspring.com
-
- Contact
-
- Bruce Gagnon 352 337-9274 globalnet@mindspring.com
-
- Karl Grossman 631 725-2858 kgrossman@hamptons.com
-
- Loring Wirbel 719 481-3698 lwirbel@aol.com
|
