::::::::
72
Number of Chernobyls that we'd need to live through in order to pump into our atmosphere the same amount of plutonium-238 that would result from a burn-up of NASA's Curiosity
6.5
Number of times we'd have to re-live Cold War nuclear weapons tests in order to pump into our atmosphere the same amount of plutonium-238 that would result from a burn-up of NASA's Curiosity
2
We'd have to multiply by 2 the amount of plutonium-238 that has entered our atmosphere from Chernobyl, a 1964 U.S. nuclear powered satellite re-entry, all of open-air nuclear testing and all nuclear reprocessing emissions to roughly equal the amount of plutonium-238 that would result from a burn-up of NASA's Curiosity
Plutonium-238 loads (in Curies or 'ci')
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover's RTG: 58,700 Ci
Open-air nuclear testing contamination of our air: 9,000 Ci
SNAP-9A re-entry contamination of our air: 17,000 Ci
Chernobyl contamination of our air: 810 Ci
Nuclear reprocessing plants contamination of our air: ~3,000 Ci
[Source: 'STOP CASSINI EARTH FLYBY' by Regina Hagen in 1998, table 1]
STOP Curiosity aka NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission -
learn more at http://www.nuclearcrimes.org/nuclearspace.php
Where NASA thinks the plutonium would land on Earth in the event of a worst-case reentry (and why NASA is wrong): here
learn more at http://www.nuclearcrimes.org/nuclearspace.php
