Am I missing something? - Edit 1
Before modification by Nate at 03/12/2012 08:20:16 PM
I consider it revealing that the US MILITARY objected on the grounds of danger to human life, while the scientific communitys only concern was contaminating the lifeless lunar surface. That kind of inverts the popular view of scientists as noble idealists who alone stand between soullessly homocidal generals and murderous abuse of technology.
Well, first of all, the article said that the scientists "also" registered concerns about the dust thing, not that they "only" registered concerns about it. For all we know, they were concerned about the danger to human life as well. I'm not sure your interpretation is justified.
Second, how did you get your headline about Sagan advising them to nuke the moon? All the article says is that Sagan did some calculations for them as part of the planning. Sounds more likely that he was part of a team contracted to look at the feasibility, since he was "a young graduate student". The article says that his calculations were related to the release of dust and gas, not that he was the chief proponent (or even a proponent) of the project. So I'm not sure how you go from there to Sagan advising the military to nuke the moon. Advising them on some of the potential consequences of nuking the moon, it rather sounds like.