July 9, 1997: Pending Cassini Launch - Karl Grossman

Art Bell welcomes investigative journalist Karl Grossman to discuss alarming risks surrounding NASA's upcoming Cassini mission to Saturn, scheduled to launch October 6, 1997. The probe will carry 72.3 pounds of plutonium-238 oxide, the most plutonium ever placed on a space device, to generate just 745 watts of electricity for its instruments. Grossman notes the Titan IV rocket has roughly a five percent failure rate, raising concerns about a launch accident dispersing radioactive material over Florida and beyond.

The greater danger comes in August 1999, when Cassini is scheduled to fly back past Earth at 42,300 miles per hour, passing just a few hundred miles above the surface to gain speed for its journey to Saturn. NASA's own environmental impact statement acknowledges that a re-entry accident could release plutonium dust affecting approximately five billion people. Independent scientists project potential fatalities ranging from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions, far exceeding NASA's estimate of 2,300 cancer deaths.

Grossman argues the mission could use high-efficiency solar cells developed by the European Space Agency instead. He questions why NASA insists on plutonium when ESA plans to send its Rosetta probe beyond Jupiter on solar power alone.