Re: A NASA-insider's announcement of Cassini launch

Andy Robert Steinberg (dracula@thecia.net)
Sun, 19 Oct 1997 20:00:03 -0400

Varactacap wrote:
>
> >You can see I feel strongly on this subject, but I feel this way because I=
> > study, read, listen, ask questions, dig deep. I'm in the process of trying=
> > to bring all the facts I can lay my hands on up onto the web so everyone=
>
> I noticed, you posted you're reply about 4 or 5 times to the BBS. Are you an
> organization or an individual? I don't agree with every belief that every
> brother or sister at a gathering has. Which, is one reason for rainbow to
> never become an organization and sign permits and all that not so good stuff.
> Just a thought on organizations.
>
> As for the Cassini thing. I'm looking real deep into this matter. I find it
> facinating. The only way we'll ever get beyond this solar system is by
> tapping into the energy locked in matter and anti-matter. I'm a space buff,
> so seeing the careful and prudent use of nuclear energy in space exploration
> is something I'll be watching real closely.

Ho! I'm also a space buff. To travel to the planets and the stars will require
great energy among other things like fine astronauts and radiation shielding.
Nuclear power as used in Voyager and Cassini is very safe, especially when compared
to a theoretical starship design called Orion, which could reach 0.3c by jettisoning
nuclear bombs a distance behind itself and riding the shock waves. This would leave
long trails of highly radioactive material everywhere Orion goes, in essence causing
massive pollution of outer space. The Orion Project long ago was scrapped, and rightly
so. Fusion and anti-matter are the next logical steps for spaceship power, the Buzzard
Ramjet still has too many problems to solve in the near future. I believe that the
latest research into particle physics has allowed antiprotons to be stored safely for
12 hours before they decay. Far-off energy sources may be derived from small black
holes, or from converting matter directly into energy.

andy

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