WHAT'S NEW Friday, 28 Feb 03

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 28 Feb 03   Washington, DC

1. NASA: THE SHUTTLE AND THE HUBBLE-REPAIR MYTH.  For the first
time, the need for a human presence in space is being questioned
openly on Capitol Hill.  But at a House Science Committee hearing
yesterday, Sean O'Keefe invoked the Hubble repairs as an example
of man doing what robot could not.  It's a NASA myth; Hubble was
designed to be serviced.  It was supposed to be like calling AAA
for a jump start; NASA promised a shuttle launch every week.  But
the repair missions cost more than Hubble, and no other science
satellite has ever been repaired in orbit.  Moreover, Hubble had
to conform to a NASA decree that everything that went into space
had to be launched with the shuttle.  This confined Hubble to a
far from optimum low-Earth orbit that took it in and out of the
Earth's shadow and exposed it to the rain of space garbage from
past missions.  Moreover, Hubble's dimensions had to conform to
the shuttle's cargo bay, and its launch was delayed for three
years by the Challenger accident.  Ironically, the Challenger
accident finally forced NASA to drop its shuttle-only launch
policy.  Hubble has gone on to achieve greatness, not because of
the shuttle and the man-in-space program, but in spite of it. 

2. MISSILE DEFENSE: PENTAGON SEEKS WAIVER FROM REQUIRED TESTING. 
In April 2000, the APS Council stated: "The United States should
not make a deployment decision relative to the planned National
Missile Defense system unless that system is shown   through
analysis and intercept tests   to be effective against the types
of offensive countermeasures that an attacker could reasonably be
expected to deploy with its long-range missiles."  In fact, a law
designed to prevent deployment of weapon systems that don't work
was passed in 1983 after Ronald Reagan announced his Strategic  
Defense Initiative.  Now the Bush administration is proposing to
exempt the Pentagon's controversial missile defense from testing.
The request is in the 2004 budget.  I called my friend Puff
Panegyric at the Missile Defense Agency.  "You've got to admit
the law makes sense," I said.  "Maybe it did in 1983," Puff
sneered, "but North Korea has made the world a more dangerous
place.  We don't have the luxury of waiting until things work. 
There are leaders of some countries who would like nothing better
than to start a war."  "I see your point Puff."

3. CURVE BALL: DEATH OF ORIOLES PITCHER LINKED TO EPHEDRA.  The
real culprit, however, was the 1994 Dietary Supplement and Health
Education Act, which exempts "natural" supplements from proof of
safety or efficacy(WN 17 Nov 00).  Under the DSHEA, supplements
have become a $17B industry.  Ephedra, or ma huang, which mimics
adrenaline, is used in weight loss aids.  But despite  thousands
of reports of adverse reactions, the FDA has struggled for years
without success to get the substance banned (WN 7 Sep 01).

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY.  
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.
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