WHEREAS, NASA has scheduled the launch of the Cassini space probe to Venus and Saturn for October 6, 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Florida; and
WHEREAS, three out of 24 United States space missions involving nuclear materials have met with accidents and a Titan IV rocket similar to the one which is to launch the Cassini probe exploded on its launch pad in 1993; and
WHEREAS, NASA estimates that cleanup of large areas of contaminated land in the event of a launch pad accident would cost $247 million per square mile; and
WHEREAS, safer means, including highly efficient solar cells, exist for providing the power required by the Cassini probe; and
WHEREAS, the Cassini space probe will carry 72 pounds of plutonium-238, which is 280 times more radioactive than the plutonium which is used in nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, NASA's own environmental impact statement says that if the Cassini probe makes an inadvertent reentry into the Earth's atmosphere during a planned flyby, five billion of the seven to eight billion people living on the Earth could be exposed to the radiation from the plutonium on board; and
WHEREAS, the Massachusetts House of Representatives has a responsibility to promote and protect the public health and welfare of the residents of the Commonwealth; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Massachusetts House of Representatives urges the President and the Congress of the United States to stop launch of the Cassini space probe until a safer power source can be supplied; and be it further
RESOLVED, that copies of these resolutions be forwarded by the Clerk of the House of Representatives to President William J. Clinton, to the presiding officer of each branch of Congress, and to the members thereof from this Commonwealth.
House of Representatives, adopted, September 11, 1997
The sponsors of the resolution were:
REP DAVID B. COHEN
Room 542-B
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2637
District Office Telephone: (617) 965-2946
E-Mail Address: Rep.DavidCohen@state.ma.us
DISTRICT REPRESENTED: precinct fifteen, of the town of Brookline, in the
county of Norfolk; and precincts two and three of wards one and two,
precinct one of ward six, all precincts of ward seven, and precincts
one, two and four of ward eight, of the city of Newton, all in the
county of Middlesex.
REP RACHEL KAPRIELIAN
Room 33
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2060
E-Mail Address: Rep.RachelKaprielian@state.ma.us
DISTRICT REPRESENTED: precinct one of ward one, of the city of Newton,
and the town of Watertown, both in the county of Middlesex.
REP KAY KHAN
Room 22
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2140
E-Mail Address: Rep.KayKhan@state.ma.us
DISTRICT REPRESENTED: precincts one and two of ward three, all precincts
of ward four and all precincts of ward five, and precincts two, three
and four of ward six, and precinct three of ward eight, of the city of
Newton, in the county of Middlesex.