X-33 Environmental Impact Statement: A Study in “Velocity” Or How Fast Can You Do an Environmental Impact Statement?

X-33 Environmental Impact Statement: A Study in “Velocity”

OrHow Fast Can You Do an

Environmental Impact Statement?


SO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SPACEPORT?

Well, what are the environmental challenges ahead of you?

We have much to learn from the X-33 experience:

•What are the issues associated with constructing and operating spaceports?•Who wants to have input to your decisions?•How long does it take to identify and resolve the issues?•Are there any surprises in store?


•X-33 was designed to be sub-orbital•Testing technologies for VentureStar•This presented unique issues regarding landing sites and recovery operations•It also required construction of facilities at multiple sites•And transportation between sites

X-33 Environmental Impact Statement: A Study in “Velocity”Task Name Duration

Normal EIS 522 days

X-33 Target 261 days

X-33 Actual 284 days

nth nth nth nth nth nth nth onth onth onth onth onth onth onth onth onth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth nth Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

•An EIS normally takes from 18 to 24 months to complete• Scoping• Field Studies• Analyses•Document Preparation•Public Review

•We were given 12 months•We did it in 13 months


•Edwards Air Force Base had already been selected as the launch site

•This had been selected using a previous environmental study for the program

•There were three flight expansion envelopes• But multiple landing sites for each envelope

•These became the alternatives addressed in the EIS

SHORT

MEDIUM

LONG


•So once you have the site, the rest should be relatively easy.•That is, the main issues that could cause you to spend time and resources should be obvious, right?


•Enter the Desert Tortoise:

•This is an Endangered Species native to this region•There are strict controls protecting them•Harassment is prohibited

•Picking one up to move it off the road to “save” it is considered harassment because if you scare it, it may “lose all its water” and dehydrate and die

•Therefore, strict controls during construction such as stopping all traffic when a tortoise was crossing the road.


•Short range landing sites included numerous “dry”lake beds in the EAFB region•Many of these were on federal (Bureau of Land Management) lands•These areas are open for public use

•So, what’s the Problem?

Silurian Dry Lake Bed

•While private vehicles can drive on the lake without permission, NASA was required to get permits to use it•The specific types of activities and areas of impact needed to be approved by BLM•And, State Highway 127 is the only road with miles of the site, a traffic control plan was required


•So assuming you’ve got all the site construction issues addressed,•What about operations?

•Well, again, you have to be aware of and protect our friends, the Desert Tortoises.

•Of course, flight safety and the probability if catastrophic failure was a major concern and the corresponding risk assessments took much of the analysis efforts.•However, some of the more interesting issues arose from the noise impacts analyses….


We looked at noise impacts for static test firing and lift-off at the launch site

We also looked at noise impacts related to flight conditions to both on-base and off-site communities


•The flight path generates two types of sonic booms:

Mid-range

Long-range

•The focused boom results from the acceleration of the vehicle

•It is more powerful that the sonic boom from normal or decelerating flight

•The position and intensity of the effect is dependent on the trajectory, vehicle configuration and atmospheric conditions

•Focused

•Normal


Of interest to us were the recipients of these noise impacts

Land Use Categories

We addressed this, in part, by looking at the land use categories that lay underneath the projected flight paths for each alternative

X-33 Environmental Impact Statement: A Study in “Velocity”The launch noise and focus boom did not affect much but BLM lands

However, for the mid-range site, the landing sonic booms had the potential to impact several Indian Reservations, much of which is considered Sacred Lands by the

residents!

X-33 Environmental Impact Statement: A Study in “Velocity”However, the peak sonic boom overpressures from normal flight operations to the proposed long-range landing site could effect eight mountain passes and five ski areas.So we had to address the potential for these flights to produce snow avalanches! The Long-range site also

had few issues associated with launch impacts


•We asked how the vehicle would be returned to the launch site

•We were told that the ONLY possible way to bring it back was atop the NASA 747 Carrier Aircraft


•After completion of the EIS, during implementation planning, it was determined that this approach was not workable•It was decided to put the vehicle on a carrier and bring it back to the launch site over the public roads

There was then a follow-on study done to determine the most feasible route to use


Summary•The environmental process is your friend, it can help resolve potential problems before they become

bigger, so use it.•Allow sufficient time and resources to perform the needed analyses.•Start early.•Each project is unique, so don’t be surprised at what you find.

•We are here to help, if you want it!

Mario [email protected]

Documents

X-33 Environmental Impact Statement: A Study in “Velocity” Or How Fast Can You Do an Environmental Impact Statement?