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From: leech@homer.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Ozone and the shuttle
Message-ID: <3211@borg.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 15 Apr 91 18:16:32 GMT
References: <1991Apr12.163103.11472@welch.jhu.edu> <3162@borg.cs.unc.edu> <1991Apr15.142006.6471@vicorp.com>
Sender: news@cs.unc.edu
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In article <1991Apr15.142006.6471@vicorp.com>, jmethot@vicorp.com (John Methot) writes:
> In article <3162@borg.cs.unc.edu> leech@homer.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) writes:
>>    ...claims by Dr.	Helen Caldicott...that ``with each launch,
>>    25 percent of the ozone is destroyed.  So far the space shuttle
>>    has destroyed 10 percent of the ozone.''
>
> A typo in Mr. Leech's transcription of this story makes these claims sound
> ridiculous.  The story I read said "with each launch, .25 percent..."

    That was the way it was printed in the local alternative newspaper
I transcribed it from.	Not my doing.  I think it sounds ridiculous
either way, but I'm willing to be convinced.  I am unaware of Dr.
Helen Caldicott having a background in atmospheric research that makes
her statement credible in the absence of supporting data.

>>    Lenny Siegel of the SF-based Military Toxics Network...said
>>    a single launch of the space shuttle damaged the ozone layer of
>>    the atmosphere as much as an entire year of industrial emissions
>>    of CFCs from a single factory.
>
> While I would call myself an environmentalist, I do believe in little
> things like logic and fact.  What kind of factory?  Producing what and
> how much?  This statement makes no sense without that information.

    Please identify the parts of the article I was quoting (as this
was) as opposed to my statements.  I don't wish to be associated in
any way with this position, I was simply summarizing it.

>>    In the absence of reviewed research, I think this is all a bunch
>>of hooey.  The Shuttle may well damage the ozone layer but not
>>severely or over a long period.  187 tons/flight I might believe.

    This on the other hand was mine.

|> I've been an advocate of space exploration all my life, so like most readers
|> of this group I have a bias toward backing space exploration programs.  I
|> would, however, like to see responses to this story from people who work
|> in the field - not just "Who are these loonies - it can't be true" knee-jerk
|> reaction.

    I don't consider mine a knee-jerk reaction.  This "censored story"
is very much along the lines of the Galileo RTG "make Florida
uninhabitable" flap which was in *last* year's top 10.  That one was
more than adequately debunked in sci.space.  The references are still
online waiting for the next time it comes up, too :-)
--
    Jon Leech (leech@cs.unc.edu)    __@/
    ``Thus Mathematics helps / our brains and hands and feet
      and can make / a race of supermen out of us.''
	- The Education of T. C. Mits