I hate science reporting

[elfs]

Okay, so why is it that every report about Cassini starts with one of the following:

"The 3.3 billion dollar space probe Cassini..."

"About the size of a bus, the nuclear-powered space probe Cassini..."

Does it really matter, now, that Cassini cost that much money, or that it has a nuclear power source? I suppose it does, but it's not really the big first thing when talking about space probes now, is it? Why do they have to put that in the first paragraph, often the first sentence?

Is it that they're easy targets, simple fnords ("your tax money", "nuclear power") that the writer can hang a story off of, whereas details of the hydrocarbon-rich oceans and organic molecule-laden clouds don't resonate with a scientifically illiterate population?

Comments

[fallenpegasus]

That's a very polite way of saying "You are lying, either out of spite or ignorance."

:)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Heh. I attended the launch of Gallileo, and laughed at the people who opposed the "nuclearization" of space. Tell it to the sun.

I suspect most people who have an opinion about Cassini simply don't understand the science involved.