-Caveat Lector-
Cassini Fly-by Nears
Spaceship Carrying Plutonium Will Pass Close to Earth
The plans are for Cassini to be captured by Saturn's gravity for a 5-month
orbit. The $3.4-billion mission will offer an up close look at the planet and
its rings. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
By Matthew Fordahl
The Associated Press
P A S A D E N A, Calif., Aug. 14 — A two-story, $3.4 billion spacecraft
carrying a load of deadly plutonium will zoom within 725 miles of Earth this
week to gain momentum for the final leg of its meandering, seven-year voyage
to Saturn.
Cassini’s return, two years after NASA launched the largest and most
expensive unmanned spacecraft ever, poses virtually no risk, mission
officials say.
But anti-nuclear activists, concerned over the 72 pounds of carcinogenic
cargo, aren’t so sure.
“The fact is space technology can and does fail,” said Bruce Gagnon of
the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. “And when you
start using nuclear materials in increasing numbers, the odds of an accident
increase.”
The flyby at 8:28 p.m. PDT Tuesday will use Earth’s gravity to change
the probe’s direction and speed relative to the sun. Without the “gravity
assist” and two previous close encounters with Venus and a future flyby of
Jupiter, the probe would never reach its destination in 2004 to study
Saturn’s rings and moons.
Chances of Re-Entry Small
The probe will approach Earth at about 35,000 mph. Its speed will increase by
about 11,000 mph after the swingby. At its closest point over the South
Pacific, the probe might be visible from Pitcairn or the Easter islands.
NASA has used planets’ gravity to fling its probes through space since
1973. The plutonium-powered Galileo probe to Jupiter twice swung by Earth in
the early 1990s at altitudes much lower than Cassini’s closest point.
The chances of an accidental re-entry of Cassini are about 1 in 1.2
million, according to a NASA estimate.
“It’s just not a credible event,” said Bob Mitchell, Cassini’s program
manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “I’m not telling you
it’s impossible, but it’s just not credible.”
Activists fear that some sort of navigation or human error could cause
the craft to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, showering the planet with
deadly plutonium dioxide.
Plutonium Powers Instruments
The spacecraft requires plutonium not for propulsion but to power its dozen
scientific instruments. The probe’s three radioisotopic thermoelectric
generators, or RTGs, convert heat from the naturally decaying plutonium into
electricity.
The units were built especially strong in case of an accident during
launch or flyby. Each pellet is boxed in layers of heat- and
corrosion-resistant iridium and graphite.
Mitchell said for re-entry to occur, a failure aboard the probe would
have to cause an exact change in its speed before the flyby. And then
something would have to happen to prevent NASA from transmitting corrective
orders.
“We’ve been flying this thing for two years now and we got a lot of
practice,” he said.
Even if the capsules were to vaporize during an accidental re-entry, the
effects on Earth’s population over 50 years would be less than the amount of
radiation from dental X-rays or a round-trip flight across the United States,
according to NASA.
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