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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Cool winds and dry temperatures. Slight chance of rain.
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
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Monday October 13, 1997 Section:
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Sports today
Vol. 108 - No.38
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were in the house Allen Field House that is.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Controversial Cassini gets all systems go
(USPS 650-640)
Two KU professors worked on pieces of NASA satellite
By Daniel E. Thompson
dthompson@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A Titan IV launch vehicle was scheduled to launch at 3:55 a.m. this morning. While environmentalists hold their breath and their picket signs, two professors from the University of Kansas are in Cape Canaveral to gaze at their work as it leaves Earth.
Tom Armstrong and Tom Cravens, professors of physics and astronomy, worked on instruments aboard the Cassini spacecraft.
The launch vehicle, which stands one and a half times as tall as the Cammanile.
contains the 22-foot tall Cassini spacecraft and 72 pounds of radioactive plutonium.
Cassini is loaded with a probe and instruments that will be used to study aspects of the solar system's most enigmatic planet. Saturn
solar system's most english planet, Saturn. Once Cassini sheds the launcher, it will begin a series of gravity slingshots around Venus, Earth and Jupiter that pick up speed and swing it out to Saturn, which is about 850 million miles from Earth. Cassini's trip will take seven years.
Cassini is predicted to arrive at Saturn on July 1,2004.
To have the electrical power to travel great distances of the solar system and still operate the instruments, Cassini must rely on a power plant called a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG.
This is where environmentalists and other opponents of Cassini come into the picture.
RTGs rely on power derived from decaying plutonium, which gives off heat.
It would be a great hand warmer," Arm-
strong said. "If it weren't so damned
heavv."
Inside Cassini are two metal surfaces — nothing more than wires — which are connected at two different temperatures, one at the pleasant warmth of plutonium and the other at the icy blackness of space. The difference creates an electrical charge through EMF, or electromotive force.
Plutonium exists in nature only in minute quantities but is synthetically derived from uranium in massive quantities. Webster's New World Encyclopedia states plutonium is "dangerous to handle, difficult to store and impossible to dispose of—it has become a human-made menace of global proportions."
The group is concerned about two scenarios: that the plutonium will explode with the launcher, dropping the radioactive material over Florida, or that Cassini will collide with Earth on its way to Saturn.
The Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, an anti-nuclear political action group, is Cassini's most vocal opponent.
"Space missions are clearly not as safe as NASA would like the public to believe," the coalition wrote on its web page.
The coalition cites John Pike, head of space policy at the Federation of American Scientists, who estimated the odds for failure of a Titan IV rocket at between one in 10 and one in 20.
NASA said it had used plutonium in 23 missions, including Galileo, and only two resulted in failure. Both , however, did not release plutonium.
In the 1968 Nimbus-B satellite launch, the plutonium that was lost was recovered, reprocessed and reused.
"Plutonium metal is relatively stable — spontaneously and naturally radioactive," Armstrong said.
If the mission went off without a hitch, which Cravens said was a 60 percent chance because of high winds at the Cape, then Cassini is in the hands of gravity and cosmic computations.
It will pass tEarth again Aug. 16, 1999.
Looking towards getting a building
The Cassini spacecraft is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which derives electricity from heat created by the natural decomposition of plutonium.
Source: Jet Propulsion Andrew Rohrback / KANSAA Laboratories
Cassini's power source
By Mike Perryman
A new science building could occupy one of the last remaining spaces on the main campus of the University of Kansas.
The proposed building would cost between $50 million and $60 million, making it one of the most costly structures on the KU campus.
The proposed site for the building is located east of Malot Hall. The site probably is one of the last available areas on the main campus and is a good location for the building, said Dean Stetler, associate professor of biology and director of undergraduate biology.
Before fund raising for the building can occur, the University must make a proposal to and gain approval from the Kansas Board of Regents.
A building committee has put together a proposal and an artist's conception of what the building would look like, said Provost David Shulenburger.
"It's a very high priority on the University's list to the Board of Regents," said Shulenburger. "We definitely need the building, and we're going to push for it."
If approved by the Regents, the University would have to seek legislative and private funding for the building. It then would take an estimated three years to construct, Stetler said.
"We've been planning for at least four to five years on the building's location and use, and although it is costly, I think everyone realizes that we need it," he said.
- The new building would be used primarily for undergraduate research and study of the natural sciences, such as biology, physics and chemistry.
Malott and Haworth halls house the natural sciences, but Malott, which is specifically used for chemistry and physics, is considered outdated in many respects, Stetler said.
"The biology departments need the building because they are running out of space," he said. "The chemistry labs in Malott were built in the '40s, and they are becoming inadequate."
IS THIS A CARTOON?
By Tom Winter
Kansan staff writer
twinter@kansan.com
Last week, Stan's gay dog ran away from home. The week before that, a volcano almost destroyed the town. This week, who knows what will happen ... but Kenny probably will die.
South Park, a cartoon on Comedy Central every Wednesday at 9 p.m., is television's newest comedy sensation.
The show profiles a small town in Colorado and all of its bizarre occurrences.
The characters, Cartman, Stan (a.k.a. Billy), Kenny and Kyle, are vulgar elementary school kids with a pathological teacher, moralizing parents and a Machiavellian mayor.
The creators of the show have produced only six episodes, but they have a loyal, cult fan base.
Arthur Saldanha, Shawnee senior, watches the program reliably.
He said that he'd seen every episode more times than he could count
"I like the humor," he said. "I like any humor that's not politically correct."
He said that his favorite episode was either the one in which Mr. Garrison attempted to assassinate Kathie Lee Gifford or the "gay dog" episode.
"I think the reason the show is so hilarious is because of the stuff that happens to him," Saldanha said.
Hutchinson sophomore, is another admirer of the program.
His favorite character is the overweight, overbearing Eric Cartman.
Luke Pfannenstiel,
“It’s definitely the same kind of idea — an irreverent cartoon,” he said.
Pfannenthel said he thought the show was similar to "The Simpsons."
Pfannenstiel said he could see how people could be turned off by the aggressive humor.
"I could see how a lot of it could be interpreted as offensive, but it doesn't bother me," he said.
The show has followed the technical revolution onto the Internet. South Park has its own Web page at www.comdevcentral.com/southpark
The page offers a variety of activities.
There are sound bites from various
There are sound blues from valour episodes, a South Park chat room where
ipants are randomly assigned characters to portray, such as Mr. Garrison, Uncle Jimbo and Officer Barbrady, and games that can be played online.
One of the games involves trying to get Cartman to eat all of the cheesy poofs before the aliens get to him. The game is similar to Pac Man.
Finally, there is an electronic marketplace where consumers can purchase South Park goods.
The main question becomes: Will there be any new episodes?
If there are, and they continue down the nihilistic road of their predecessors, the fame and hype will continue to echo through the jagged mountains of this fictious comedy village.
Chicago Bulls Luc Longley signs autographs and talks to fans. The Bulls and Sonics game Saturday night in Allen Field House packed over 16,000 fans into Allen Field House. Photo by Steve Puppe/KANSAN
Bull run
Tree memorializes KU hopeful
High school student died in car accident last year
By Gwen Olson golson@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Sixteen family members, friends and representatives from the University of Kansas Naval ROTC gathered Friday to remember a fallen soldier.
A memorial tree was planted north of the Military Science Building in memory of Paul Joseph Stock III, who was killed before he was able to fulfill his dream of attending the University of Kansas.
Carla Kirk, Stock's mother, said the tree was a gift from someone she had worked with in Lawrence before she
moved to Killeen, Texas.
Stock was killed in a car accident last year while he and some friends were driving through Reno, Nev.
"I knew that I would be taking a job in Texas, but I felt this was the most fitting place for the tree since this is where he was next going to be and where most of our family still is," she said.
Stock would have been a third-generation Jayhawk. His grandmother, father and uncle are all KU alumni
Before his death, Stock had received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. This appointment would have allowed Stock to attend the college of his choice, which was the University.
Family members, friends and Naval ROTC officers helped in the planting by
Associate minister Hans P. Pfadt of the Clinton Parkway Assembly of God conducted the service.
Pfadt told the family that no one could take away their memories of Stock and reminded them to remember the things for which they should be thankful.
placing dirt around the tree after a short ceremony.
Lloyd Kirk, Stock's uncle and Lawrence resident, said he saw the tree as a perfect symbol for Stock.
"He had a land-based job supporting sky missions in the Navy," Kirk said. "It's a nice symbol of how he is planted in the ground but always reaching for the sky."
1
Christina Stock, Paul Stock's sister and Lawrence resident, said the ceremony helped her feel a sense of closure about her brother's death.