In article <1991Apr18.102840.20293@bhpcpd.kembla.oz.au>
stvl@bhpcpd.kembla.oz.au (Steve Lechowicz) writes:
> Some time ago there was a '60 minutes' segment on the proposed launch
> facility on the Cape York peninsula. ... It's just that since that
> report there has been nothing else and the silence is worrying (I doubt
> it means they've packed the idea in). ...Does anyone know what the
> current situation is with the launch facility?
In trouble, but you're right, they haven't packed it in by any means.
However they keep their cards very close to their chest and it is always
difficult to come by hard information. Plenty of hype, but you don't want
that.
I have a special interest in Cape York, probably because I was born there,
and the launch facility is one of the more threatening proposals for the
area yet devised. To me there are three serious kinds of objection to it.
1. Environmental. The area is one of the last relatively pristine
wilderness areas in tropical Australia and is of particular interest
since the flora and fauna of the region have both typical New Guinean
and typical Australian components. It is unique, incredibly rich and
incredibly delicate. Environmentally the region simply cannot withstand
any increase in population and human activity.
2. More environmental. There is simply no safe way to build and service a
large facility in the area. There are no proper roads at the present
time, and the Daintree fiasco is a good example of what happens when you
try to make one. It just washes away each monsoon season. Air transport
is impractical because of the scale, and the Great Barrier Reef makes
sea transport very risky from two points of view - environmental and
safety. (There is already a busy sea channel that goes inside the reef
in that area. From the shore at Portland Roads I have often seen as
many as 12 tankers a day carefully picking their way through the reef,
even in the cyclone season.)
3. Aboriginal. This is the most serious of all. The human history of the
region since the early 40s has been a slowly evolving tragedy of enormous
proportions, but one that could be reversed if the right steps were taken
now. In the early 40s the aboriginal population, which had about 60
language groups and many more tribal, were rounded up and held in several
large "communities", notably Coen, Lockhart River, Arakun, Mapoon, Weipa,
and Bamaga (Thursday Island), as a precautionary measure in case of a
Japanese invasion. (This was done, in fact, by the Americans under
Macarthur without any consultation with anyone, not that there would have
been any objections.) These heterogeneous and unstable communities have
steadily deteriorated by cultural deprivation and alcohol ever since.
However there is now an encouraging movemement by the native people to
occupy their traditional tribal areas once again. This is incompatible
with the development of a launch site in the area that will both deprive
some of the people of their tribal lands, (the proposed "exclusion zone"
is enormous) but also change the character of the Cape in a way that
would frustrate this optimistic cultural renaissance.
> Steve.
> P.S. I'm posting this for world distribution because the launch
> facility is an international setup and so information from other
> countries could be important.
Originally the Americans were set to exclude a Cape York launching facility
from US contracts
a) because cheap soviet rockets were proposed, and
b) because the payloads had security implications (meaning you can't trust
those damn Aussies not to pass on secrets to the Ruskies).
and this would have made the project only borderline, economically.
(Oh, and incidently, because the Hawaiians wanted to build such a launch
facility, too!)
However this opposition may have abated in recent times. Pity.
Well, friends in the USA: They *are* lousy rockets, we *will* tell the
Ruskies and everyone else *all* your secrets, and the Hawaiians couldn't
build a launch station if they tried. Prove me wrong! :-)
More seriously I think this is an issue with worldwide implications, and a
conservation battle that could use some international attention and support.
-- Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@spam.adelaide.edu.au Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Phone: +61 8 228 5412