[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 88 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25236-25237]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12155]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice 98-062]


National Environmental Policy Act; Stardust mission

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Finding of no significant impact.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 
1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the Council on 
Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural 
Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and NASA policy and 
procedures (14 CFR part 1216 subpart 1216.3), NASA has made a finding 
of no significant impact (FONSI) with respect to the proposed Stardust 
mission, which would involve a flight to the comet 81-P/Wild-2 and 
return of cometary and interstellar dust samples to Earth. The baseline 
mission calls for the Stardust spacecraft to be launched aboard a Delta 
II 7426 from Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), Florida, in February 
1999, and to return the sample return canister (SRC) to Utah Test and 
Training Range (UTTR) approximately 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest 
of Salt Lake City, Utah in January 2006.

DATE: Comments in response to this notice must be provided in writing 
to NASA on or before June 8, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments in response to this FONSI should be addressed to 
Mr. Mark Dahl, NASA Headquarters, Code SD, 300 E Street SW, Washington, 
DC 20546. The Environmental Assessment (EA) prepared for the Stardust 
mission which supports this FONSI may be reviewed at:
    (a) NASA Headquarters, Library, Room 1J20, 300 E Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20546
    (b) NASA, Spaceport USA, Room 2001, John F. Kennedy Space Center, 
Florida, 32899 (407-867-2622). Please call Lisa Fowler beforehand at 
407-867-2468 so that arrangements can be made.
    (c) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Visitors Lobby, Building 249, 4800 
Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (818-354-5179)
    The EA may also be examined at the following NASA locations by 
contacting the pertinent Freedom of Information Act Office:
    (d) NASA, Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA 94035 (415-604-
4191)
    (e) NASA, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA 93523 (805-
258-2663)
    (f) NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (301-
483-6255)
    (g) NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058 (281-483-8612)
    (h) NASA, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23665 (757-864-2497)
    (i) NASA, Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, 
OH 44135 (216-433-2755)
    (j) NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (256-
544-5549)
    (k) NASA, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 (601-688-2164)
    A limited number of copies of the EA are available for persons 
wishing a copy by contacting Mr. Dahl, at the address or telephone 
number indicated herein.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Dahl, 202-358-1544.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NASA has reviewed the EA prepared for the 
Stardust mission and has determined that it represents an accurate and 
adequate analysis of the scope and level of associated environmental 
impacts. The EA is hereby incorporated by reference in this FONSI.
    NASA is proposing to launch the Stardust mission, which would 
deliver a single spacecraft within 150 to 1000 kilometers (km) (93 to 
620 miles [mi]) of the 81-P/Wild-2 comet nucleus during a flyby in 2004 
to gather 1000 dust particles from the comet's coma. The proposed 
action calls for using a Delta II 7426 launch vehicle with a Star 37FM 
upper stage to inject the Stardust spacecraft into its initial 
heliocentric orbit in February 1999. The proposed mission design calls 
for the Stardust spacecraft to swing by Earth once during its seven-
year tour. This gravity assist would allow the spacecraft to gain the 
additional energy required to intercept the comet Wild-2. During its 
flight, Stardust would transmit pictures of the Earth and Moon taken 
during the Earth swingby, transmit pictures of the comet nucleus and 
coma taken during comet encounter, nondestructively capture 
interstellar and cometary dust particles, and return these samples to 
Earth for study by the international scientific community. Neither the 
spacecraft nor the return canister would carry radioactive material.
    The primary science objective for the Stardust mission is to non-
destructively collect comet dust particles greater than 15 microns 
(m) in size, at an encounter velocity of less than 6.5 km/
second (s) (4 mi/s), and return them to Earth for scientific study.
    Secondary and tertiary scientific objectives include the collection 
of intact particles from the Interstellar Dust Stream impinging into 
our solar system; provide multiple images of Wild-2, with ten times the 
resolution of any comet image to date, taken within 2000 km (1240 mi) 
of the comet nucleus; provide in-situ participle analysis capable of 
resolving abundant elements in comentary fields for dust participles 
during the coma fly-through; provide in-situ participle analysis for 
interstellar dust particles and planetary dust; collect comet coma 
molecules and return them to Earth; provide dust flux

[[Page 25237]]

measurement of participles having a mass less than 1 gram; and measure 
the dust mass flux, number of large participles, and comet mass upper 
limit. The Stardust mission is proposed to gather interstellar and 
cometary material and return it to Earth where the world scientific 
community can systematically analyze it with powerful research 
equipment in their laboratories.
    Samples from Wild-2 would offer a glimpse of the best preserved 
fundamental building blocks out of which our Solar System formed. In 
addition, during its first two orbits about the Sun on its way to Wild-
2, the Stardust spacecraft would collect approximately 100 interstellar 
dust participles. This would provide the international scientific 
community its first opportunity to collect and analyze these 
interstellar dust grains.
    Alternatives that were evaluated include: (1) No-Action (i.e., no 
Stardust mission); (2) launch vehicles options, including the Space 
Shuttle, Taurus, and Atlas configurations, as well as other Delta 
configurations; and (3) alternative landing sites. Failure to undertake 
the Stardust mission would disrupt the execution of NASA's Solar System 
Exploration Program as defined by the Agency's Solar System Exploration 
Committee. The scientific value of having actual bona-fide, relatively 
pristine comet samples is high. While environmental impacts would be 
avoided by cancellation of the proposed mission, the loss of the 
scientific knowledge and database from carrying out the mission could 
be substantial. Of the launch vehicles evaluated, the Delta II 7426/
Star 37 FM most closely matches the Stardust mission requirements, and 
minimizes adverse environmental impacts within the cost constraints of 
this Discovery Mission.
    Expected impacts to the human environment associated with the 
mission arise almost entirety from the normal launch of the Delta II 
7426, and to a much lesser extent, the entry, descent, landing, and 
recovery operations of the sample return. Air emissions from the 
exhaust produced by the solid propellant graphite epoxy motors (GEMs) 
and liquid first stage primarily include carbon monoxide, hydrochloric 
acid, aluminum oxide in soluble and insoluble forms, carbon dioxide, 
and deluge water mixed with propellant by-products. Air impacts will be 
short-term and not substantial. Short-term water quality and noise 
impacts, as well as short-term effects on wetlands, plants, and 
animals, would occur in the vicinity of the launch complex. These 
short-term impacts are of a nature to be self-correcting, and none of 
these effects would be substantial. There could be no impact on 
threatened or endangered species or critical habitat, cultural 
resources, or floodplains at or in the vicinity of CCAS. Accident 
scenarios have also been addressed and would not result in substantial 
environmental impacts.
    The second stage would be ignited at an altitude of 118 kilometers 
(74 miles), which is in the ionosphere. Although the second stage would 
achieve orbit, its orbital decay time would fall below the limit NASA 
has set for orbital debris consideration. After burning its propellant 
to depletion, the second stage would remain in low Earth orbit (LEO) 
until its orbit eventually decayed. The second stage is designed to 
burn up as it reenters Earth's atmosphere. The Stardust Project will 
follow the NASA guidelines regarding orbital debris and minimizing the 
risk for uncontrolled reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.
    The level and scope of environmental impacts associated with the 
launch of the Delta II 7426 vehicle are well within the envelope of 
impacts that have been addressed in previous FONSIs concerning other 
launch vehicles and spacecraft.
    At capture, the comet and interstellar dust particles would be 
traveling at very high speed relative to the spacecraft collector and 
would be stopped in 1 to 3 centimeters (cm) of glass (aerogel) within 
microseconds. The particles would undergo extreme heating during impact 
and capture. This is a much more severe environment than any known 
sterilization techniques these particles might be subjected to on 
Earth. Because there is little possibility of biological contamination 
during sample collection, and thus an insignificant chance of returning 
any living organism to Earth (known as back-contamination), the 
Stardust project has requested and received certification from NASA's 
Planetary Protection Officer as a Planetary Protection Category V 
mission, ``Unrestricted Earth Return,'' for the inbound mission phase.
    Upper altitude emissions associated with reentry of the sample 
return capsule (SRC) would include ablation products of the thermal 
protection system on the forebody. The SRC would enter the earth's 
atmosphere directly above UTTR's South Range with a velocity of 
approximately 13 km/s (8 mi/s). It would decelerate to 600 meters/s (m/
s) (1962 fee/s [ft/s]) in two minutes. The material baselined to be 
used for the forebody heatshield is Phenolic Impregnated Ceramic 
Ablator (PICA), recently developed at NASA's Ames Research Center. Due 
to friction, the peak heating would occur at approximately 54 seconds 
after reentry begins, which corresponds to an altitude of approximately 
60 km (196,860 ft) above the earth. The ablation would continue for 
about twenty seconds. Models conservatively predict that less than 22 
percent of the total PICA material would ablate during reentry, and 
that ablation would cease at approximately 46.5 km (152,566 ft) above 
the earth. The total mass of the PICA material would be about 8.5 kg 
(18.7 pounds [lb]); of this, a maximum of 1.86 kg (4.09 lb) would be 
ablated during reentry. The chemical species produced during ablation 
would be dissipated in the shock wave behind the SRC. Two of the 
chemical species produced in small amounts during ablation, hydrogen 
cyanide and cyanide (37 grams [g] and 149 g, respectively), are 
considered to be acutely toxic to humans when inhaled. The ablation 
process and thus the production of these species would cease more than 
46 km (150,000 ft) above the earth. Therefore, these concentrations 
would disperse in the large volume of air in the upper atmosphere and 
would not constitute a danger to health or life on earth. The SRC 
heatshield would be rapidly cooling during the subsonic portion of the 
descent, and would not be emitting into the lower atmosphere.
    UTTR is primarily used by the U.S. Air Force as a bombing and 
artillery test and training range. The entry, descent, landing, and 
recovery operations for the 42.6 kilogram (93.7 lb) SRC would be well 
within the bounds of the day-to-day operations carried on at UTTR. 
There would be no impact on threatened or endangered species or 
critical habitat, cultural resources, wetlands or floodplains at UTTR. 
Off-nominal recovery scenarios have also been addressed. No other 
impacts of potential environmental concern have been identified.
    On the basis of the Stardust EA, NASA has determined that the 
environmental impacts associated with the mission would not 
individually or cumulatively have a significant impact on the quality 
of the human environment. NASA will take no final action prior to the 
expiration of the 30-day comment period.
Earle K. Huckins III,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science.
[FR Doc. 98-12155 Filed 5-6-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7510-01-M