25236 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 88 /Thursday, May 7, 1998 / Notices

to this document with the following

limitations: The Routine Uses listed at

paragraphs 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 11 in the

General Prefatory Statement to this

document are not applicable to this

system of records. The records also may

be disclosed where required by law.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING

AGENCIES:

None.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING,

RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND

DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

STORAGE:

Paper files, and some electronic files

stored on floppy disks and/or video

tapes.

RETRIEVABILITY:

Respondent name and study title.

SAFEGUARDS:

Available to authorized personnel

only. Files are kept in locked offices.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:

One to three years.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:

Director, CPRL, Office of Research

and Evaluation, Room 4915, Postal

Square Building, 2 Massachusetts Ave.,

NE, Washington, DC 20212.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:

Mail all inquiries or present in writing

to System Manager at above address.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:

As in notification procedure.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:

As in notification procedure.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:

From individual respondents.

SYSTEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS

OF THE ACT:

None.

Signed at Washington, DC this 30th day of

April, 1998.

Alexis M. Herman,

Secretary of Labor.

[FR Doc. 98–12129 Filed 5–6–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–23–P

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.

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 (μm) 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 insitu participle analysis for interstellar

dust particles and planetary dust;

collect comet coma molecules and

return them to Earth; provide dust flux
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 88 /Thursday, May 7, 1998 / Notices 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. Shortterm 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-today 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. Offnominal 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