40th Anniversary of the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), December 1999
It is quite clear that the US Space Command intends to carry out its stated objective of mastering space (and hence the Earth). The publicity surrounding the recent Cassini spacecraft (carrying 72lbs of plutonium and luckily missing the Earth's atmosphere on its recent fly-by) has emphasised that it is the intention of the US government (through
military and civil programs) to carry on using and developing nuclear power sources to be used in space - ultimately as part of the program of domination.
During the month of December the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space are asking groups and individuals to lobby the UNCOPUS (or the Office of Outer Space Affairs/OOSA in Vienna) to encourage the peaceful use of space but discourage agresive and expoitative policies by all countries.
UNCOPUS was set up by the UN General Assembly in 1959 to "review the scope of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, ... to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer
space matters, and to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space" (see http://www.un.or.at/OOSA/copuos.html).
Two important facts that they should consider:
1. No country or space agency (civil or military) has ever categorically stated that it would ensure the "ultimate disposal" of any nuclear-powered earth-orbiting or deep-space missions. All the Russian Kosmos missions with
uranium reactors that are still in orbit around the Earth will eventually fall back within the next 650 years. The half-life of the uranium is 4.5 billion years. Many deep space missions will probably eventually leave the solar system altogether - their final destination is not always considered. Is it responsbile behaviour to fire off radioactive bullets in random
directions? For example, what will happen to Cassini after its mission ends?
2. NASA plans to launch the Europa Orbiter mission in 2003. The Europa Orbiter will use an Advanced Radioisotope Power Source (ARPS, i.e. a new form of RTG) to produce electrical energy for the on-board instruments. According to Jackie Alan Giulino, who had been working for NASA for 20 years, NASA plans to have the spacecraft captured by Europa's gravity at the end of the mission and crash it into the icy surface of this Jupiter moon hoping to find a proof for water on the moon. In an article (http://www.ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-26g.html) he asks:
"But what will become of the spacecraft's 9.6 kg of plutonium? No one really knows - or cares - at NASA. One scenario is that the ARPS canisters could melt througth the ice, falling into the moon's ocean".
So let's get this straight: the Europa Orbiter spacecraft will be exploring Europa from orbit, paving the way for future robotic explorers that might actually search for life. Yet the plutonium it carries will be thoughtlessly dumped into the very oceans that could contain pre-biotic life?"
You can therefore contact UNCOPUS by e-mail, fax, or letter at:
Office for Outer Space Affairs
Vienna International Centre P.O. Box 500, Room E-0946 A - 1400 Vienna,
Austria
Phone: (43-1) 26060 4270
Fax: (43-1) 26060 5830
E-mail: OOSA@unov.un.or.at
Congratulate them on their 40th anniversary but also make the following requests or demands (depending upon how strongly you word it!):
1. That UNCOPUOS ensure that existing international law is strictly adhered to when using nuclear power sources for space missions. The current high risk of failure (1 in 7 for nuclear-powered space missions) strongly indicates that these missions should be stopped.
2. In view of recent advances in solar technology and the high number of accidents with nuclear-powered space missions, UNCOPUOS should start a "Review and revision" process of the "Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources In Outer Space". This is in line with Principle 11 which states that:
"These Principles shall be reopened for revision by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space no later than two years after their adoption."
4. Following the recent test of a BMD weapon in the United States, and the unease with which these activities are viewed by other states, the world is heading towards an arms race in space. UNCOPUOS should work to achieve a "weapon-free zone" in space.
3. That the Global Network as representatives of concerned citizens
throughout the world be heard in the course of the appropriate discussions.
