"Is it hopelessly naive to assume that the vehicle might "burn up" in the atmosphere upon re-entry after a failed launch? Is there some principle which would prevent the Plutonium from "burning up" or vaporizing somehow in the same fashion? Under those circumstances would the 72 pounds of Plutonium constitute "small quantities" and would it be contained necessarily at a recognizable "accident site" so that it could be "cleaned up" by the guys in those special suits and resperators? ... Sorry, Per, but the chances of your being a bourgeois government's dupe might be substantial. The nuclear "industry" has a demonstrable history of willingness to take chances with our lives and health." Classified as mission opponent. Central concern: risk.

(NASA employee, in response to claims that NASA is not making all pertinent information available), "As stated in the NASA Notice of Availability (Federal Register Notice 97-040, 4/9/97) and the EPA Notice of Availability (Federal Register 970130, 4/11/97), copies of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Cassini Mission are available, on a first request basis, by contacting Mark Dahl at NASA Headquarters, Code SD, Washington, DC 20546-0001, 202-358-1544. Comments on the DSEIS must be submitted in writing and received by NASA no later than May 27, 1997. The NASA and EPA Notices may be obtained on line from the Government Printing Office at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html Search on Notices and "Cassini" (without quotes) to obtain Federal Register Notices relating to the Cassini Mission. Notices are down-loadable in text and .pdf formats." Classified as mission proponent. Central concern: Technical questions/answers.

"Members of a group I belong to oppose the Cassini project because they believe fallout from the plutomium, if the vehicle crashed, would be devastating. I doubt their information sources, but I can't argue them without "reliable" information of my own. Can anyone help me?" Classified as mission proponent. Central concern: Asking/providing basic information.

"RTGs are somewhat more stable then asteroids -- for instance, the Apollo 13 LM was carrying an RTG when it re-entered the atmosphere. The RTG *did not* rupture, and is currently sitting safely at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Those things are designed to take it -- ask the engineers, but I am reasonably sure that the RTG would survive any conceivable re-entry scenario. As for your hypothetical explosion, Cassini would be a million times more likely to completely miss the earth and go flying off on some trajectory that came no-where near the earth." Classified as mission proponent. Central concern: Past nuke/RTG failures didn't kill life on Earth.

(Forwarded message) "This is a message regarding your future. It is intended to reach as many internet users as possible as fast as possible. It is meant to bypass the mainstream media which have not cared to inform us of this extremely dangerous situation. Thank you for taking the time to read the following and forwarding it to friends, listservs, newsgroups, should you judge it necessary." Followed by excerpt from the article "Risking the World" by Karl Grossman. Classified as mission opponent. Central concern: Passing on others' messages.

"Wow. I just downloaded twelve new posts from seven different authors, all on topic, and my spam and Dan filters didn't have to sift out anything. Nothing in them about the Cassini earth flyby or sales pitches for offshore investments. And my newserver doesn't even pick up all posts in its feed. I haven't seen this much on topic activity in a long time." This is the sole message on Cassini posted by this author. Classified as mission neutral. Central concern: Annoyance with off-topic discussion.

(In response to "There are safer technologies that could have been and should be used.") "Which ones? Last time I checked, there were no alternative technologies currently available which would have done the job. Also, I might point out that ALL technologies, including solar, have their risks and environmental effects, whether radiation, toxic processing chemicals, or simply heavy water usage. Personally, if Cassini reentered during the flybyt, I'd be more worried about it landing on my house than about the RTG breaking open." Classified as mission proponent. Central concern: Risk overstated, disproportionate.

(In response to one of the NASA employees' posts, "I read your Cassini update and was relieved to see that the probe had Trajectory Correction capability. I am very concerned about the risks of the schedules Earth flyby (see http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby). Could you please enlighten me in this regard?" This person was at first difficult to classify on the basis of this message. I then searched to find other postings by the same author. In September 1997 this author posted directions to an anti-Cassini rally. The same person posted a call to international action to stop Cassini in June 1996. Classified, then, as mission opponent. Central concern: Risk.

"I hesitate to post anything with "Cassini" in the title, due to the large volume of noise, but here goes. ... Is there/will there be such a page detailing the positions of the planets involved in Cassini's trajectory? Those would be Venus, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn, IIRC. (I sent mail asking this question to the mailto: on the Cassini web page, and got an automated response.)" This is the sole message on Cassini posted by this author. Classified as mission neutral. Central concern: Asking/providing basic information.

(In response to discussion of Cassini's budget restrictions) "The dust instrument on Cassini will be turned on in a little less than a month from now. Other Cassini instruments will be turned on at around the Venus flyby (June). I don't know details about the when the camera will be turned on, only that there is definitely pre-Saturn science happening by Cassini." This message was ambiguous, so I did a search on the author and found numerous messages by what turned out to be a graduate student working on dust science who was looking forward to Cassini data, who had also posted many sarcastic comments about the opponents, such as: "To celebrate the successful launch of Cassini, and my hopes of some Cassini data someday to play with, my Halloween costume this year is a Cassini RTG unit. (You know, one of those plutonium thingys.)" Classified as mission proponent. Central concern: Cass budget doesn't allow for cruise science.