[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]
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