Orinda, California

United States of America

Editors

Jazzy Carlson

Anna Luber

Writers

Allie Smith

Andrew Kastenbaum

Andy Hurrell

Annie Hobbs

Cody Flowers

Collin Spencer

Danny Harmon

Devin Marcus

Eden Castro

Evan Cushing

Fiona Foster

John Oakley

Jeong Moon

Kiera Jeuitt

Kira Condey

Seung Uk Kim

Kyle Drewes

Matt Bohnsack

Michael Stone

Nic Gracia

Petra Wilkinson

Tae Kim

Aiyana Price

Teachers

Bob Shayler

Starfire

Objective/Activity Page

1/1 4-6

1/2 7

1/3 8

1/4 9-10

1/5 11

2/1 12

2/3 13-15

2/4 16

3/1 17-18

3/2 19-20

3/3 21-22

Bibliography 23-24

Armageddon:

The movie Armageddon, staring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck, is about a space shuttle that is suddenly ruined shortly after an explosive meteor shower hits New York City. NASA later learns that there is an asteroid the size of Texas headed towards planet earth, and they do not have very long to stop it from destroying planet earth. Harry Stampler (Bruce Willis), and other fellow oil workers are recruited by NASA and are trained to become astronauts so they can save the world by setting off a nuclear bomb in the core of the asteroid. However, it’s much more complex than that.¹

Armageddon is clearly a science fiction film so it is not very realistic. The opening statement spoken by the narrator before the film begins is rather cleaver and to the point. The film opens with the statement: “It happened before, it will happen again, it’s just a question of when.” There are some setbacks to watching a film that is not realistic. The main setback is that people are unable to relate to many of the circumstances, causing a number of people to be less engaged with some parts of the film. Many parts of the movie are too serious and there is very little comic relief presented. It comes off as gloomy and dark and the continuous fighting and violence in the movie brings it down at times.¹

It’s evident that this film is a rather “manly” film and that many women would not be as interested in watching it as men would be. Harry treats his daughter, Grace (Liv Tyler) like his slave, in a way. He uses all of the power he has over her to his advantage and tries to control her. As a woman myself, it frustrates me that this movie is completely dominated by male figures. On a brighter note, the acting in this film is relatively good. Bruce Willis comes across as an engaging protagonist, bringing a lot of light to his character. Along with this, Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck bring a certain manner of respectability to their characters.²

Star Wars Episode III:
This movie sets up the plot for the three original movies in this series. This movie was alright, and better than the two preceding it, but was still nothing compared to the original three. There was a lot of war in this movie and it didn’t keep my attention fully. The visuals of the war and space scenes were very good, but they had no feeling to them. It didn’t give me the feeling of anticipation and wanting to know what happens next that the original movies gave me. Romantically, I didn’t feel the chemistry that past star wars movies had given me. I didn’t feel the spark, just and actor and actress reading their lines. Also, the way Anakin switched for the good side to the dark side felt unreal and scripted. It seemed unreal and there wasn’t any transition between good Anakin and bad Anakin. Altogether, this movie was the best out of it’s trilogy, but was ultimately a bad copy of what I felt with the original trilogy.

Star Wars Episode III:

I had never seen any Star Wars episodes before in my whole life. I just did not have any interest on any science fiction movies even though Star Wars is the greatest movie ever. But after I watched this movie, I changed my mind about science fiction movies and I love watching them now. I did not have any information of Star Wars; the only thing I knew was that this movie is about the space war. There are several different races and they make wars to grasp the galaxy. In this movie, the world is totally different from the world where we live today. In the Star Wars’ world, people have science things that we may use in the future such as light sabers and space ships. But I do not think that this will happen to us soon. The story of this movie is about one young man’s tragedy. He is a strong, brave, and wise Jedi knight. But Supreme Chancellor’s plot and Anakin Skywalker’s love for his wife, Padme, cause him to change. He has to choose one road between two different roads and he chooses the evil and dark side. In the audience’s point of view, Anakin is an evil person. But in his point of view, the Jedi might be the evil side. The audience cannot tell that he is the bad person. He just loves Padme too much and he does not want her to die. She and her children are a kind of the trigger of him to become Darth Vader. He has to choose the evil side to save her and children. Eventually, his greed of power and arrogance cause him to be Darth Vader at the end. But People cannot criticize him, because no one can judge that which one is good or evil. If you were Anakin Skywalker and your lover is dying, can you just watch it? I do not think so. You would do the same thing as he did. He can be described as both a good and evil man in this movie.

I like special effects, science fictional story lines, and computer graphics in this movie. They make my eyes fascinate. I think that this episode has much better special effects than the first episode. It is irony that space ships of the Episode 3 are better than space ships of the Episode 5 or 6. There are a lot of weapons and races in this movie. They drive some weird vehicles instead of driving cars. Battle scenes, different kinds of space ships, and speedy race scenes make this science fiction movie a lot better. In these days, people cannot invest these kinds of things, but this movie is just fiction. But who knows. We may drive space ships or use light sabers in 50 years or 100 years. I want to say that this is not impossible thing. There will be the world that is just same as the world in Star Wars someday. Our technology is also developing when the time goes on. I also like the characters in the movie such as Yoda and the robots, C-3PO and R2D2. They all seem like real. I can tell that the computer graphic of this movie is great. I also think that people like this movie because of the director of the movie: George Lucas. He is one of the greatest directors in the movie history. He has made this Star Wars series for more than 25 years and each episode was a great success. He has a genius for making movies. Some people say that episode 1 and 2 are kind of boring, but the 3^rd episode is exciting from start to end. The characters’ acting is also great. The audience falls into the movie while they are watching the characters’ acting.

My final opinion of this movie is that this movie is great. I wish I could watch this movie in the theater and it would be more exiting and fantastic. Some people may say that this episode is worse than any other episodes. But still it is one of the greatest movies in movie history. The storyline is kind of boring and it is sometimes hard to understand the movie, but special effects and computer graphic cover these weakness and make this movie great. After I watched this movie, I want to watch other Star Wars episodes too on the weekend. I got a great impression after I watched this movie. If someone who does not watch any Star Wars episodes yet, I strongly recommend to watch this movie. He or she will be a great fan of Star Wars.

^{1. http://www.thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=554}

^{2. http://www.mediacircus.net/armageddon.html}

Star Wars Episode III:

Three years after the Battle of Geonosis, Politican Chancellor Palpatine, was kidnapped by the evil commander of the Droid Army General Grevious and renegade Jedi Count Dooku. Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with his apprentice Anakin Skywalker rescue Anankin. Anakin kills Count Dooku, and rescues Chancellor Palpatine. Anakin learns that his wife Padme Amidala is pregnant, and Anakin starts having bad nightmares of Padme dying during childbirth. Because Anakin is forming a close friendship with chancellor Palpatine, the Jedi council assigns Anakin to spy on him. Obi-Wan and a platoon of clone troopers go to destroy General Grevious and end the war. Anakin finds out that Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the mastermind behind the war. Darth Sidious converts Anakin to the Dark Side and makes him into the Sith Lord Darth Vader, thinking that the Dark Side’s powers will save his pregnant wife from dying. Anakin on the dark side could mean the end of the Republic and the fall of the Jedi Order.

Star Wars Episode III:

² Blaster Pistol ~ a standard-issue rebel's blaster pistol. It has unlimited ammunition, but needs recharging if used too rapidly.

² Storm trooper Rifle ~ A Storm trooper’s Blaster Rifle which you can pick up from their dead bodies. It has limited ammunition.

² Thermal Detonators ~ Supplied to you in some missions, but you're only given three. Useful for dealing with large groups of enemies.

² E-Web Blaster ~ A mounted blaster which you can man in certain missions.

Light saber ~ Used only by Luke in a few of his missions, it is a good close-combat blade, which can also be used to deflect gunfire. Also used to open the belly of an AT-AT.
Armageddon:

In a sequel to the movie Armageddon, another earth threatening and intriguing event would have to happen again to attract the audience. In the sequel, NASA would have less time to save the planet from another possible disaster (not a asteroid headed for earth like in the first Armageddon). Instead of a meteor the size of Texas heading towards earth, maybe another earth threatening disaster is possibly going to happen in the sequel such as an extraterrestrial encounter. In the sequel, the same characters and actors (Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, and Bruce Willis) could play the same characters in a different situation¹. Armageddon 2 could have a similar plot except a threat from another planet. Armageddon was released at a time when films to do with disaster were having a comeback, which was probably why it was so successful². In the sequel, the movie producers would have to come up with concepts that would be attractive to today’s movie viewers, since the first movie was made almost 10 years ago. The production crew should take to note some of the criticisms of the first movie, and try and revise some of these in the sequel to make sure it is a success. In order to successfully produce the next movie, it would be smart of the producers to incorporate famous actors into the sequel, since the first movie had very famous main characters.

A Space Odyssey:

Hal 9000’s malfunction was a direct result of man’s dependency on tools for evolution. The man responsible for Hal’s birth, Mr. Miller, was a smart man. He wanted to build a computer that would never break. He added some precautions that even Hal had no idea of. Mr. Miller made it so the computer regenerated it’s self every once in a while. Mr. Miller was a famed scientist, and we see him in a better focal point 2002. The movie opens up very much like the first, epic classical music and imagery of the planets in space. The camera zooms in to see the sun behind the discovery. The screen gets dark then opens with a lab where Mr. Miller is working on his computer. There is a partly assembled second computer and electrical things scattered everywhere. The room is white but one wall is black. Blended into the black wall is the monolith. Mr. Miller goes on working apparently not noticing the monolith. It shows more people working in the lab. They also don’t notice the monolith. Than the camera pans around the room and you can see the space ship discovery being built. The scene returns to space and the camera zooms in to a window in the discovery. Inside is the red room from the last movie where Bowman disconnected Hal. You see the computer rebooting its self with lights flashing.

Once the computer is running once more it has forgotten what has previously happened and does not know where the missing crewmembers have gone. Hal detects life coming from the astronauts that were put to sleep. Mr. Miller added the security measure to make it impossible to kill the sleeping astronauts. If you tried an emergency life support system would turn on. Hal wakes them up and they try to figure out what has happened. They have been asleep much longer than they were meant to be, so there is some brain damage. They have forgotten how to walk and speak. They have to start over as if they were babies. Hal must teach them how to walk and talk.

Hal has not changed and it soon is apparent that he is teaching the humans to serve him. They have become his tool. Hal carries on with the mission to Jupiter. A black monoliths seen floating overhead as the discovery travels towards Jupiter. They pass through a black hole. The black hole has an effect on the humans. They begin to age quickly. Hal realizes that without the humans he can go no further. He is as dependent on the humans for his evolution as we are dependent on machines for ours. The people onboard the Discovery kept growing old at a rapid rate. The movie ends with the discovery out of the black hole. Hal is ordering the people to stop aging. They have run out of food and together the people have their last meal. They do not talk. The black monoliths seen in the background and one of the crewmembers brings out a log that Bowman kept during the mission. They come to understand that Hal has taken over and everything he has told them has been a lie. It is too late however to do anything because they are all on their deathbeds. They return to the beds that they slept in during the voyage to Jupiter. Each is seen lifting a decayed hand to the monoliths Hal is heard screaming in the background. They are each reborn in space and are seen over looking the world as the sun eclipses the moon. The camera goes back to the discovery. You see the empty shuttle with Hal singing Daisy in the background. It zooms in to the black monolith and the screen goes black.

^{1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/}

^{2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(film}
A Space Odyssey:

In the movie there were several problems presented. The first was a competition between two tribes of pre-historic men over a watering hole. They tried to scare each other away but after a while neither tribe was really scared of the other tribe. One tribe gained the upper hand as it discovered a very rudimentary tool: a bone club. The tribe members showed up to the watering hole the next day armed with their new tools. They used them to kill a member from the other tribe. This solidified their ownership of the watering hole and guaranteed that their tribe lived on.

Another problem characters faced in the movie was that of walking around and living in zero gravity. On a commercial space flight the attendants wore Velcro covered shoes and walked on special surfaces also covered in Velcro, this allowed them to walk almost normally through the zero G cabins. The food was also specially made to be extra sticky, this helped make sure no pieces of the food would drift off in the weightless environment. The third aspect humans dealt with was using a bathroom in zero G. We can see in the movie the complex instructions on using the toilet. The novel version of the book describes the method in which this fictitious bathroom works. A person walks in, and the whole bathroom compartment spins creating a very weak gravity through centrifugal force. Although the force of the gravity is very weak, it doesn’t take much to get the job done.

One problem the screenwriter saw in space travel is the immense distances involved. For example as the crew heads to Jupiter they are interviewed by the BBC. The news anchor tells about how the signals are taking more than thirty minutes to travel from space craft to the Earth based television station. This could make certain things quite complex, such as communication with family, or in the case of an emergency. Luckily the crew has a very advanced computer that constantly checks their equipment for any failures that will crop up in the future.

This leads to the movies more dire problem, the computer that checks their equipment, as well as maintains life support and other crucial mission tasks, malfunctions. One of the two members of the crew is killed by the computer, the other one is stranded outside the ship in a small service pod. Luckily the surviving crew member is able to make it back inside the spacecraft and turn the malfunctioning part of the computer system off and leave the crucial life-support systems and flight systems intact.

Part A ~ U.S.:

The United States Government has acknowledged the new orbiting “military vehicle,” and is concerned with how it’s to be used. If the intentions of launching this apparatus are only for protection and/or communication, than the U.S. forces will not engage the country physically, but will keep a watchful eye on them. If, however, it is a weapon meant for hostility, than U.S. forces will need to be put into action. Whether it be dismantling the weapon or attacking the country of origin.

Part B ~ The United Nations:

The United Nations decree that no other country is allowed to destroy this orbiting structure via missiles, etc. because space is no ones territory and there are unknown repercussions for explosions in space. If the apparatus is a weapon, funds will be raised to send men into space to dismantle the weapon. If the apparatus is not hostile than it will be left, but monitored heavily.

Part C ~ A Non-Governmental Organization:

Our organization is outraged that a country would launch a “military vehicle” into space without the permission of the United Nations. It is acceptable for structures to be launched into space if they are peaceful, however “military vehicles” should not be exercised in orbit. It is a dangerous business because no one knows what would happen if something went wrong and a warhead exploded in orbit. It is not a risk we are willing to take.
Countries Involved:

² United States

² Russia

Scenario:

Vast amounts of oil are discovered on the moon by the United States.

Political Stability:

The US and Russia signed the United Nations 1967 Outer space Treaty and the 1979 Moon Treaty.

The Treaties specifically state:

² The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;

² Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;

² The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;

² The natural resources of the moon are the common heritage of mankind

² No nation can claim sovereignty of the moon either by occupation, use or force

² The natural resources of the moon shall not become property of any country, organization or person

² An international regime will be established by the countries that sign this agreement and they will oversee the development and management of any natural resources on the moon

² The benefits of these natural resources will be shared equitably

If the United States were to find oil on the Moon and were to accept the terms of these treaties, then all countries should be allowed to share the oil that was found or share in the process because of the regulations of the treaty. As a result of the treaty, all countries should be allowed to drill on the moon and the moon belongs to all of the countries. The development and management of the oil would be done by all of the countries that signed the treaties. However, in 2006, President Bush changed the US National Space Policy (NSP) to say:

² “The United States will oppose the development of new legal regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit U.S. access to or use of space.”

² “In this new century, those who effectively utilize space will enjoy added prosperity and security and will hold a substantial advantage over those who do not. Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power.”

In the past, the United States and Russia have not honored other countries’ authority when they were in need of oil. Many believe that when the US invaded Iraq, the reason was because of their oil. Big US oil companies such as Chevron Oil, have been destroying parts of South America for their quest for oil. Russia has been exploiting parts of Siberia for its oil, and Russia’s invasion of Chechnya was also related to oil.

In my opinion, if the US discovered oil on the moon, then many other countries would get involved with the issue because oil is a resource that is desperately needed, yet it gets more scarce by the minute. Because of George Bush’s space policy that was made in 2006, I believe that George Bush would not follow the Outer Space Treaty nor the Moon Treaty. From there, if that were to occur, big problems could happen as a result. If the US were to consider the oil as its own, then war could erupt. Other countries (including Russia) may not approve of the United State’s decisions, and they would go against the United States. It might even start a world war.

Economic Growth:

One possible outcome could be that private oil companies could establish their own independent space programs in order to try to prevent dealing with the government and to lower their costs as well. As a result, the oil companies would make millions or billions of dollars. Gas prices would probably increase because of the costs in drilling in outer space and also because of tax increase. In conclusion, the rich would gain money while the poor remain poor. From there, Russia would probably have the same economic outcome as the US.

Social Stability:

I believe that the rich people would benefit from this scenario. However, people who aren’t rich would not benefit. Historically, people have sometimes rebelled when put in this kind of circumstance. Some examples are the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution. If the poor were made poorer because increased gas prices and taxes; then there would be less jobs for people, people might rebel, there might be more homeless and other situations. There could be an uprising or riots and social instability. From there, the government might have to make changes. If not, there could a revolution.

Accountability:

The US and Russia should be accountable on certain situations such as: the social and economic conditions on the poor, political bullying and environmental problems caused by oil drilling. I believe that their lack of accountability would be based on greed. The greed would be created by the desire for money and power. An example of lack of accountability is the Chevron oil issue in Ecuador. Chevron oil drilled for oil in Ecuador, but did not clean up the environmental mess they made. As a result, the water supply became polluted, indigenous people are getting sick and the environment is destroyed. Chevron oil does not believe it’s responsible because they said they cleaned up, although these problems still remain.

Evolving Technology:

In order to export oil to Earth, new technologies would include; drilling technologies and a way to store and transport the oil. Because of the conditions of the moon (lack of air and water) robots would probably be used for a lot of the work. In order to transport the oil, new technologies would need to be established such as: a fleet of space ships just for exporting the oil, a space station for docking and for workers.
Europe:

European countries seem to be developing more anti-military satellites system. They design entire satellite systems, and also are developing new technologies that will be developed into space based defense systems in the future. An example of the space based defense systems they are working on is an exo-atmospheric anti-missile defense system, and they are currently working on the first optical ballistic surveillance early-warning demonstrator in Europe.

China:

China does not have a publicly identified dedicated anti-satellite program; in fact they abandoned the program responsible for developing antimissile systems, high powered laser, space early warning systems, and target discrimination systems in the 1980s. They have been working on laser technology that, based on the 1998 Report to Congress, China’s lasers have the capability to damage satellite sensors, and in the future they could make a weapon that would have the capability to fire a strong enough laser to entirely destroy a laser.

Setting:

² San Francisco

The members of NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid group saw the asteroid. They saw it years before it made the crash. There was some talk about a warning, about preventative measures, but the scientists discovered this to be unnecessary. Asteroids that were close to Earth were a normal enough occurrence and they never seemed to actually collide with the planet. Of course this trend wasn’t enough to make the scientists stopping worrying. There were tests. There always are. The asteroid was roughly 100 meters, a baby; too small to be the cause of ecological disasters. Its orbital path was such that the scientists thought there was almost no chance of it colliding with Earth. In the unlikely events that it didn’t follow its predicted path exactly, it was going to land in the sea, far from any opportunities to disrupt the flow of human life. The asteroid did not follow theory.

It hit in the morning. The career-obsessed were up and working in their very respectable down town offices. The yuppies were running with their dogs. The rich and the lucky were sleeping in their down town apartments. The tourists were sleeping in their fluffy hotel beds, full of last night’s clam chowder. It hit the Macy’s building, the enormous one with the Cheesecake Factory. The one in the center of down town, in the middle of the hotels, offices, and environmentally friendly pedestrians. It broke and tumbled and burned. The pedestrians screamed as they broke and tumbled and burned as well. The sleepers and the workers shrieked and tried to hide in doorways and under tables so they might survive the promised large-scale earthquake. The buildings surrounding Macy’s were cracked and charred and dented in places. Bart shut down and the commuters were late and terrified. The early risers in the east bay say the flames and the smoke and they wondered if there had been another terrorist attack. They prepared themselves for another disaster and slew of new lies from their mistrusted administration. Many people died: the early shoppers, the early workers, the healthy yuppies, the early tourists, even a few stumbling homeless wanderers.

News cameras were flown in. Bush made a speech. People with relatives and friends in northern California cried out and rushed to the phones. Some insensitive right wingers in the red states smiled at their TVs and said that those nutty, San Franciscan liberals deserved it. Perhaps 30% of the population prayed that this was the start of Armageddon. In the liberal areas on the East and West Coasts, people blamed the government for not being prepared, for not paying enough attention or giving enough support to science. Bush asked his cabinet if this disaster was large enough that he could get away with some last minute power-grabs. San Francisco bled and wept and the people in surrounding areas poured into the streets and wept too. Everything stopped.

Globally NASA and the American government were being blamed. There was some pity in Western Europe. There was almost none anywhere else. They had been through worse, largely because of America. All of the countries that were involved with trade in San Francisco, however, worried about their economy and their profits endlessly. They worried with good reason; San Francisco had shut down. The surrounding areas had shut down for now as well. The work and profits from rebuilding would go to American companies. The NASA scientists checked and re-checked their calculations, feverishly trying to account for their mistakes. The large companies cried over lost profits. The politicians, foreign and domestic, wondered how they could profit from the situation. San Francisco burned and burned.
Nuclear Powered Space Objects:

There are two types of nuclear powered reactors in space objects now: radioisotope thermoelectric generators and reactor power systems. Such power systems must be used in out planet exploration as the conventional solar electric power systems are ineffective in deeper space. NASA nuclear power systems are all under the safety precaution of complete containment of nuclear material. In the event of reentry or explosion, nuclear containers are designed not to release any materials; a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG, has never failed safety precautions.

RTGs do not utilize fission, nor are capable of given the type of non-weapons grade plutonium-238 and design of reactor. By virtue of this, RTGs could never explode like a nuclear bomb. While considering a challenger-like launch explosion, it is reassuring to know that the nuclear reactor would not blow like a nuclear weapon. Extensive studies on the challenger launch indicate that the pressure was well below the threshold of dangerous, which is around 19,600 PSI. The possible oxygen-hydrogen explosions risking launches are rated at around 2,075 PSI, thus an explosive failure does not mean nuclear mayhem.²

Nuclear powered space objects hold a lot of skepticism. The launch of NASA’s Cassini probe was a fearful event for Floridians despite the risk of fallout logically zero. Cassini held 72 pounds of plutonium-238, more than any other amount of plutonium ever brought into space, to power its instruments.¹ Americans are ignorantly scared of nuclear power. Everyone wants clean, abundant power, however, no one accepts the reality of nuclear power; nuclear carries a cultural stigma. Despite numerous scientific studies, nuclear power plants would almost never explode like a nuclear bomb. America would ironically have to purchase French nuclear power plants now, as we have lost the ability to create such technology despite giving it to the French. It is amazing how completely ignorant Americans have become in the technology they have pioneered.

With such taboo on anything nuclear, education to the skeptics is a more likely effect of an accident at the launch of a nuclear powered space object than is nuclear fallout. Nuclear powered space objects is inevitable.

The majority of accidents involving nuclear powered space objects have been very ineffective. Russia has been much more careless about their nuclear safety precautions. There have been four accidents in which resulted radioactive fallout, three of which involved accidental re-entry and consequent release of radioactive materials in the atmosphere.² America has only had three accidents with nuclear powered space objects, only one of which released radioactive material, which was nonetheless ineffective. Russian nuclear powered space objects are poorly designed and are always risking the spread of nuclear materials as they have poor containment.

A Worry about Nuclear Powered Space Object Launchings:

To produce a launch of any kind of device it takes a lot of money. If there is a accident in the launch and a malfunction occurs that prevents the launch from being successful, millions of dollars have been wasted immediately. All the resources and money we put into the project would have been for nothing because of a mistake in the launch. Also if there was a explosion of the device then nuclear waste would be expand onto our plain and radiate to populated areas causing extreme problems. Such as mutations and death. If nuclear waste spilt on our soil then we would have to evacuate that area and it would be inhabitable forever. And all the resources that could have been used in that area have all gone to waste.

During a nuclear spill during a failure of the launch, then there is the possibility of creating chaos and panic within our country’s government and even possibly others. It could cause panic because of the civilians lives that are at risk. Which would cause a unrest in society life. It would then start questioning our governments motives and objectives. Whether these motives are in the peoples best interest. There are many things that could go wrong in a launch consisting of a nuclear device, which could in the long run affect the country economy and political life.

^{1. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1997/09/cassini.html?welcome=true}

^{2. http://www.nuclearspace.com/use_in_space.htm}

First Possible Scenario:

One disaster situation that is very possible today would be the crash of another shuttle, resulting in the loss of human life.

The Space Shuttle Challenger first flew on April 4, 1983. Just three years and nine missions later, it disintegrated during take-off killing all seven of the crewmembers aboard. After the disaster, all NASA operations were put on hold for a 32-month period.

On February 1, 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia blew up and disintegrated during re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere. A piece of foam insulation broke of from the shuttle striking the left wing. While going through the earth’s atmosphere, the damaged area allowed gases to enter the wing causing and explosion. All seven members of the crew were killed. Over three years passed before NASA put another shuttle into orbit.

Another accident occurs during the flight of a shuttle resulting in loss of both ship and crew. This accident could be either by human error or by conditions.

Due to the previous failures of NASA shuttles, the suspensions of the program following the former disasters, and the mass loss of money and life a disaster like this would cause, I believe another failure would result in a long term stop of shuttle launches by NASA. This time around, it would be for much longer than before, possibly for over a decade. The US government would just not be able to take the risk of launching the shuttles anymore when in a situation where catastrophes are often occurring.

Since our manned space programs would be put on hold, we would be forced to rely on other countries for help with our research and missions such as Russia or China. This would put us at a disadvantage in both space research and as a world power.

Second Possible Scenario:

Since An Elevator with the ability to reach outer space is closer than ever before¹ one must look at the potential dangers associated with having such an object. An elevator going that high would have to be pressurized like the cabin of an airplane so that passengers would be able to survive a trip². The question being: what would happen if a space elevator were to fall?

The Elevator would work by a tether cable made of carbon nanotubes spanning up to a point beyond geosynchronous orbit and using the inertia at the end of the tether and a counterweight such as a captured asteroid or Space Station to counteract the gravity.⁴

The main reason for a space elevator would be for getting cargo and possibly people and animals into space at a fraction of the cost of launching a rocket. What would happen if a meteor or some other object were to collide with the Space Elevator? Since the elevator would go up past geosynchronous orbit³, if the exterior were breached then the effects would be the same as if a space shuttle had a hole in it.

Another problem, if living things are to be transported, is the Van Allen belts that the elevator would contact. The elevator would need to have at the very least lightweight shielding to protect from the radiation of the Van Allen belts, build in shielding would lower the capacity of the elevator.

Third Possible Scenario:

It is 2027 A.D., space science has been developed more than any other science branches due to the competition between strong countries’ has been replaced its battlefield to the outer space. The strong countries include the United States, China, Japan and Russia—for last 20 years, they launched a various kind of space vehicles to the outer space. Such as, spy satellites, space-based weapons, space-based defense, and space platforms. A numerous numbers of space vehicles has been launched by a lot of countries—they were either publicized, or unpublicized intentionally for keeping it secret to the other countries, in a sense of protection. No one knew how many space vehicles were floating up on the Earth’s atmosphere, but they only assumed more than few millions of space vehicles were spinning around the Earth. The Governments of the strong countries did not really care about those non-using space vehicles—thus, countless amounts of space vehicles were floating around the earth’s atmosphere whether they are functioning or not. 3 years later, 2030 A.D., few sunspots had exploded and caused magnetic field that caused all connection between the Earth and the space vehicles incapable. The space vehicles started to crash into each other, and space-based weapons started to attack other space vehicles that were not planned to attack.

^{1. http://elevator2010.org/}

^{2. http://www.mountaineering.ie/features/general/highaltitude.htm}

^{3. http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html}

^{4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator#_note-5}
Chelala, Cesar and Garro, Alejandro M. “Ecuador: Taking an Oil Giant to Task Over Rain Forest Pollution”, 18 May 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/01/13/edcesar_ed3_.php

Clark, Graeme. “Armageddon”, 18 May 2007

http://www.thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=554

David, Leonard. “Extraterrestrial Resources: ‘Living off the Land’”, 18 May 2007 http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_resources_031114.html

David, Leonard. “The Space Elevator Comes Closer to Reality”, 18 May 2007
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html

Hitchens, Theresa. “The Bush National Space Policy: Contrasts and Contradictions”, 18 May 2007

http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentID=3692

Leong, Anthony. “Armageddon Movie Review”, 18 May 2007

http://www.mediacircus.net/armageddon.html

Nagano, Tomomasa. “An Interview with Michael Heller”, 18 May 2007

http://www.spusa.org/pubs/peace_security/spaceandsecurity/space_interviews.html

Quinn, Catherine M. “High Altitude Sickness”, 18 May 2007

http://www.mountaineering.ie/features/general/highaltitude.htm

The Online Film Critics Society. “2001: A Space Odyssey Named the Greatest Sci-Fi Film of All Time”, 18 May 2007

http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/pages/pr/top100scifi

Weiss, Leslie. “Cassini Controversy”, 18 May 2007

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1997/09/cassini.html?welcome=true

Willem Van Gelder, Jan. “Sector Case Study: Oil and Gas Exploitation in Siberia”, 18 May 2007

http://www.profundo.nl/publicaties/siberia.html

Wohleber, Curt. “3001: The Final Odyssey”, 18 May 2007

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue37/books.html#fo

“2001: A Space Odyssey”, 18 May 2007

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19680101/CRITICALDEBATE/40305008

“2001: A Space Odyssey”, 18 May 2007

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/plotsummary

“Armageddon”, 18 May 2007

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/

“Near-Earth Objects and Life on Earth”, 18 May 2007

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/life.html

“Neo Groups”, 18 May 2007

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/groups.html

“Oil and Natural Gas in Conflict”, 18 May 2007

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/oilindex.htm

“Target Earth”, 18 May 2007

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/target.html

“The 1979 ‘Moon Treaty’”, 18 May 2007

http://www.greaterearth.org/laws/moon_try.htm

“The Pro-Nuclear Space Movement”, 18 May 2007

http://www.nuclearspace.com/use_in_space.htm

“Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies”, 18 May 2007

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/outerspt.html