UBC, An Analysis of the Risk Communication Efforts Surrounding NASA’s Cassini Mission to Saturn. J. L. Arvai, Institute for Resources and Environment
In the months leading up to NASA’s launch of the Cassini mission to Saturn in October 1997, a great deal of controversy arose surrounding the risks associated with the use of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) on board the spacecraft. RTGs use non-weapons-grade lutonium to generate electricity required for the spacecraft’s instruments and computers. In response to the controversy, officials at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) engaged in an active risk communication campaign based upon information provided by thorough, peer reviewed risk assessments surrounding RTG use. It was designed to inform the public about the severity of the risks to human and environmental health associated with an RTG mishap. However, in spite of the risk communication campaign, RTG critics and anti-nuclear activists lobbied until Cassini’s eventual launch date to have the mission aborted. This paper investigates the structure and effectiveness of the risk communication approach of NASA and JPL concerning the use of RTGs during the Cassini mission. It argues that the risk communication strategy of NASA and JPL may have led to a risk information vacuum and social risk amplification surrounding RTG use. Moreover, a lack of public and stakeholder input into the planning of certain aspects of the Cassini mission from its inception may have exacerbated some of the difficulties with the NASA and JPL risk communication effort.
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