geoswan's Journal: USA still launching a Titan over NFLD oil platform

Submitted to the front page.

In a test of President Bush's Ballistic Missile Defense scheme CTV is reporting that the US Space Command is planning to launch a Titan missile that will pass over the Hibernia oil field, off the coast of Newfoundland. The missile's booster will land within something like 25 kilometers of Newfoundland oil platforms. Premier Danny Williams plans to shut down and evacuate the platforms, prior to the launch, which may cost as much as $250,000,000.

The test was delayed last week, and some reports said that the delay was due to sensitivity to Canadian concerns. However this is incorrect.

A television report quoted an American military spokesman claiming the chance of debris striking an oil platform is "one in a trillion".

Update: 2005/04/09 17:50 GMT rejected from the front page

I had chosen Politics, Space. I had a couple of articles make the front page, a few years ago. Followed by a list of over a dozen rejections.

Thanks

[LPetrazickis]

I started a discussion on Apolyton [apolyton.net] about this. Thanks for the write-up.:)

Let's Think Positive

[mercedo]

Space programme is not only meant for military defence purposes but for astronomical, cosmological ones, generaly first many new technologies were developed in military defence use and later applied to 'peaceful' purposes. Humans never stop exploiting scientific frontier till we find McDonald's in Mars.