10880 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 46 / Monday, March 10, 1997 / Notices

the moon’s landscape. The Cassini

Orbiter would then continue its Saturn

orbital tour, providing opportunities for

ring imaging, magnetospheric coverage,

and radio (Earth), solar, and stellar

occultations of Saturn, Titan, and the

ring system. A total of 35 close Titan

flybys have also been planned for the 4-

year tour, along with 4 close flybys of

selected icy satellites, and 29 more

distant satellite encounters. The

scientific information gathered by the

Cassini mission could help provide

clues to the evolution of the solar

system and the origin of life on Earth.

The Cassini spacecraft would carry

three RTG’s that use the heat of decay

of plutonium dioxide to generate

electric power for the spacecraft and its

instruments. The spacecraft would also

use up to 157 RHU’s, each containing a

small amount of plutonium dioxide, to

generate heat for controlling the thermal

environment of the spacecraft and

several of its instruments.

The Cassini FEIS was made available

to Federal, state, and local agencies, the

public, and other interested parties on

July 21, 1995. In addition to the NoAction alternative, the FEIS addressed

in detail three alternatives for

completing preparations for, and

operating the Cassini mission to Saturn

and its moons. On October 20, 1995,

utilizing the analyses in the FEIS along

with other important considerations

such as programmatic, technical,

economic, international relations, and

other factors, the Record of Decision

selecting the Proposed Action was

rendered.

The Proposed Action consists of

completing preparations for and

implementing the Cassini mission to

Saturn and its moons, with a launch of

the Cassini spacecraft onboard a Titan

IV(SRMU)/Centaur. The launch would

take place at CCAS during the primary

launch opportunity in October 1997. A

secondary launch opportunity occurs in

December 1997, with a backup

opportunity in March 1999, both using

the Titan IV(SRMU)/Centaur. The

primary launch opportunity would

employ a Venus-Venus-Earth-JupiterGravity-Assist trajectory to Saturn; the

secondary and backup opportunities

would both employ a Venus-EarthEarth-Gravity-Assist (VEEGA) trajectory.

The Proposed Action would allow the

Cassini spacecraft to gather the full

science return desired to accomplish

mission objectives.

Along with the No-Action alternative

(ceasing preparations and not

implementing the Cassini mission), the

FEIS evaluated in detail two other

mission alternatives. The March 1999

alternative would have used two Shuttle

flights with on-orbit integration of the

spacecraft and upper stage, followed by

injection of the spacecraft into a VEEGA

trajectory to Saturn. Due to the long

lead-time in developing and certifying

the new upper stage that would be

needed to implement it, this alternative

is no longer considered reasonable.

Also, this alternative would have

returned less science than the primary

launch opportunity of the Proposed

Action. The other mission alternative

considered in the FEIS was the 2001

alternative, which would use a Titan

IV(SRMU)/Centaur to launch the

spacecraft from CCAS in March 2001 on

a Venus-Venus-Venus-Gravity-Assist

trajectory. A backup opportunity in May

2002 would use a VEEGA trajectory.

The 2001 alternative would require

completing development and testing of

a new high-performance rhenium

engine for the spacecraft, as well as

adding about 20 percent more

propellant to the spacecraft. Science

returns from this alternative would meet

the minimum acceptable level for the

mission.

The FEIS analyses demonstrated that

completing preparations for and

implementing a normal Cassini mission

would not significantly impact the

human environment. The principal

concern associated with all mission

alternatives (except No-Action) was

with accidents during launch and

operation of the mission that have the

potential to result in a release of

plutonium dioxide from the RTG’s and/

or RHU’s onboard the spacecraft. In

response, NASA and the U.S.

Department of Energy (DOE), using the

best information available at that time,

developed an array of representative

accident scenarios that could potentially

result in a release of plutonium dioxide

from the RTG’s. NASA and DOE

analyzed the representative accident

scenarios with respect to the

consequences and risks. The results of

those analyses were presented in the

Cassini FEIS.

Updated results from the continuing

tests and analysis have recently become

available for NASA review. This

updated data indicates that there is new

information relevant to environmental

concerns and bearing on the impacts of

the Proposed Action. NASA has

determined that the purposes of NEPA

will be furthered by preparation and

issuance of an SEIS.

The SEIS will address NASA’s

consideration of the updated data

resulting from the ongoing analysis. The

SEIS will compare the updated data

with those in the FEIS and will focus on

the areas where the largest differences

in risk are estimated. The SEIS will

address the Proposed Action, the No

Action alternative, and the 2001 mission

alternative which is still available to

NASA.

Benita A. Cooper,

Associate Administrator for Management

Systems and Facilities.

[FR Doc. 97–5735 Filed 3–7–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7510–01–M

[Notice (97–027)]

NASA Advisory Council, Life and

Microgravity Sciences and

Applications Advisory Committee,

Microgravity Science and Applications

Advisory Subcommittee; Meeting

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and

Space Administration.

ACTION: Notice of meeting cancellation.

FEDERAL REGISTER CITATION OF PREVIOUS

ANNOUNCEMENT: 62 FR 7072, Notice

Number 97–014, February 14, 1997.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED DATES OF

MEETING: March 5, 1997, 10:00 a.m. to

5:00 p.m. Meeting has been canceled.

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Dr. Bradley M. Carpenter, Code UG,

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration, Washington, DC 20546,

202–358–0813.

Dated: March 4, 1997.

Leslie M. Nolan,

Advisory Committee Management Officer,

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration.

[FR Doc. 97–5854 Filed 3–5–97; 1:16 pm]

BILLING CODE 7510–01–M

NATIONAL CREDIT UNION

ADMINISTRATION

Sunshine Act Meeting; Notice of

Change in Subject of Meeting

The National Credit Union

Administration Board determined that

its business requires the deletion of the

following item from the previously

announced open meeting (Federal

Register, 62 FR 10086, March 5, 1997)

scheduled for 8:10 a.m., Friday, March

7, 1997.

3. Charter Application from the

Proposed First Combined Community

Federal Credit Union.

The Board voted (2-to-0, Vice

Chairman Bowne ́ was unavailable) that

Agency business required that this item

be deleted from the open agenda. Earlier

announcement of this change was not

possible.

The previously announced items

were:

1. Approval of Minutes of Previous

Open Meeting.