NASA's environmental impact statement for flight tests of the experimental X-34 vehicle will take into account various contingencies, ranging from possible accidents to minor annoyances.
"We will look at all of the possible impacts," says Rebecca McCaleb, manager of the environmental engineering department at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
"The major points we will evaluate more intensively are those with respect to safety," says McCaleb. For instance, the statement will discuss how the craft would break up in the event of a launch accident.
However, the document also will address less dramatic issues, such as whether the X-34's sonic booms might disturb the neighbors, in communities located near flight paths.
Similar to other federal agencies, NASA is required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for various projects that could affect the public or the environment. Such documents often are hundreds of pages long, and involve considerable research as well as input from the public.
In recent years, NASA has issued environmental impact statements for the Cassini spacecraft (because of the probe's use of plutonium) and the X-33 experimental craft, among other projects. In the case of the X-34, an EIS is required because planned flight tests next year will bring the unpiloted craft over private property.
Under current plans, the X-34 will conduct powered flight tests from California that will take it over New Mexico, Nevada and Utah next summer. Later flights from Florida would take the vehicle over North and South Carolina. The X-34, a suborbital rocket, is launched from an L-1011 airplane.
NASA plans to hold a round of public hearings in October in communities near proposed X-34 routes to allow residents to discuss any concerns and suggestions about the tests. The agency is advertising the meetings in local newspapers. NASA subsequently will issue a draft EIS, followed by another round of public hearings and then a final EIS by June of next year.
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