National Environmental Policy Act; Mars Surveyor 2001 Mission

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[NOTICE 99-147]

National Environmental Policy Act; Mars Surveyor 2001 Mission

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft environmental impact statement

(DEIS) for implementation of the Mars Surveyor 2001 (MS 01) mission.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

(NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on

Environmental Quality 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 prepared and

issued a DEIS for the MS 01 mission. The DEIS addresses the potential

environmental impacts associated with continuing the preparations for

and implementing the MS 01 mission. The purpose of this proposal is to

continue global reconnaissance of Mars and perform surface exploration.

The mission is planned to consist of two components. NASA proposes

to launch an orbiter spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB),

California in March-April 2001, and a lander/rover spacecraft from Cape

Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), Florida in April 2001. The orbiter would

be launched aboard a Delta II 7925, while the lander/rover would be

launched aboard a Delta II 7425. The lander/rover would include four

small radioactive sources for instrument calibration and would use

three radioisotope heater units (RHU's) for thermal control. The

orbiter would carry no radioactive material.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit comments or

environmental concerns on or before January 13, 2000, or 45 days from

the date of publication in the Federal Register of the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency's notice of availability of the MS 01

mission DEIS, whichever is later.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Mr. Mark R. Dahl, NASA

Headquarters, Code SD, Washington, DC

[[Page 66669]]

20546-0001. While hard copy comments are preferred, comments by

electronic mail may be sent to [email protected]. The DEIS may be

reviewed at the following locations:

(a) NASA Headquarters, Library, Room 1J20, 300 E Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20546.

(b) Spaceport U.S.A., Room 2001, John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL

32899. Please call Lisa Fowler beforehand at 407-867-2497 so that

arrangements can be made.

(c) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Visitors Lobby, Building 249, 4800

Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (818-354-5179).

In addition, the DEIS may be examined at the following NASA

locations by contacting the pertinent Freedom of Information Act

Office:

(d) NASA, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (650-604-

4191).

(e) NASA, Dryden Flight Research Center, P.O. Box 273, Edwards, CA

93523 (661-258-3449).

(f) NASA, Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, 21000 Brookpark

Road, Cleveland, OH 44135 (216-433-2755).

(g) NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt,

MD 20771 (301-286-0730).

(h) NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058 (281-483-8612).

(i) NASA, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681 (757-864-

2497).

(j) NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (256-

544-2030).

(k) NASA, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 (228-688-2164).

Limited hard copies of the DEIS are available, on a first request

basis, by contacting Mark Dahl at the address or telephone number

indicated herein.

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

mail ([email protected]). The DEIS also is available in

Acrobat format at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss or http:/

/www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/mars.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: MS 01 mission is part of a series of

missions to characterize Mars' atmosphere, geologic history, climate,

and the relationship to Earth's climate change process. These missions

aim to determine what resources Mars provides for future exploration,

and to search for evidence of past and present life. The MS 01 mission

would specifically continue the global reconnaissance of Mars via an

orbiter spacecraft, and continue the intense study of local areas of

the surface via a lander/rover spacecraft.

The proposed action consists of continuing preparations for and

implementing the MS 01 mission. The MS 01 orbiter would be launched on

a Delta II 7925 from VAFB in March-April 2001. The MS 01 lander

carrying the rover would be launched on a Delta II 7425 from CCAS in

April 2001. Alternatives that were evaluated included an Orbiter-and-

Lander-Only mission, an Orbiter-Only mission, and the No-Action

alternative.

For the MS 01 mission, the potentially affected environment for

normal launches includes the areas at and in the vicinity of the two

launch sites, CCAS in Florida and VAFB in California. The environmental

impacts of normal launches of the two spacecraft for the proposed

action would be associated principally with the exhaust emissions from

each of the Delta II launch vehicles. These effects would include

short-term impacts on air quality within the exhaust cloud and near the

launch pads, and the potential for acidic deposition on the vegetation

and surface water bodies at and near each launch complex, particularly

if a rain storm occurred. The potential exists for disturbance of some

protected wildlife species, which has been addressed by the U.S. Air

Force and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pursuant to consultations

under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, and incidental take

permits and mitigation plans are in place.

A concern associated with launch of the MS 01 lander/rover

spacecraft involves potential launch accidents that could result in the

release of some of the radioactive material on board the lander/rover

spacecraft. The lander would employ two instruments which use small

quantities of cobalt-57 (1.30 x 10 \10\ Becquerels or 350 millicuries)

and curium-242 (up to 7.40 x 10 \5\ Becquerels or 20 microcuries) as

instrument sources. The rover would have three RHU's that use plutonium

dioxide to provide heat to the electronics and batteries on board the

rover. The radioisotope inventory of the three RHU's would total

approximately 3.69 x 10 \12\ Becquerels (99.6 curies) of plutonium. The

rover would also carry curium-244 (up to 3.70 x 10 \9\ Becquerels or

100 millicuries)) on its spectrometer and a small americium-241 source

(up to 1.11 x 10 \6\ Becquerels or 30 microcuries) on a dust experiment

package.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in cooperation with NASA, has

performed a risk assessment of potential accidents for the MS 01

lander/rover. This assessment used a methodology refined through

applications to the Galileo, Cassini, and Mars Pathfinder missions and

incorporates safety tests on the RHU's, as well as evaluation of the

January 17, 1997, Delta II accident at CCAS. DOE's risk assessment for

this mission indicates that in the event of a launch accident the

expected impacts of released radioactive material at and in the

vicinity of the launch area, and on a global basis, would be small.

Jeffrey E. Sutton,

Associate Administrator for Management Systems.

[FR Doc. 99-30864 Filed 11-26-99; 8:45 am]

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