D. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT o PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE SYSTEM RESULTS IN MODEST IMPACTS AND/OR QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED o ENVIRONMENT AREAS MAY BE GROUPED AS FOLLOWS: - VEHICLE EMISSIONS/OPERATIONS - MICROWAVE BEAM - EARTH ACTIVITIES - SPACE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT o WITHIN THE NEXT 2 YEARS, ANALYSES SHOULD PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR A FIRST-ORDER IMPACr ANALYSIS IN ALL AREAS. TEST DATA RELATED TO THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE MICROWAVE BEAM ON HUMANS ARE PROBABLY THE MOST TIME-CRITICAL AREA o SUBSEQUENT FIGURES OUTLINE QUESTIONS TO BE TREATED IN EACH ENVIRONMENTAL AREA D.l VEHICLE EMISSIONS/OPERATIONS o TROPOSPHERE - LAUNCH AREA GAS CLOUD, RAINOUT CONDITIONS, AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS - METEOROLOGICAL EFFECTS AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES o STRATOSPHERE - PHYSICAL AND BIOMEDICAL OZONE DEPLETION EFFECTS - WEATHER MODIFICATION ASSESSMENT o IONOSPHERE - ASSESSMENT OF 'PUNCH OUT' EFFECT o THERMOSPHERE/ MAGNETOSPHERE - PREDICTED DISTRIBUTIONS o SONIC BOOM/ LAUNCH NOISE - PREDICTED LEVELS - POSSIBILITY OF SEISMIC EFFECTS o VEHICLE FAILURE EFFECTS - ATMOSPHERE/SURFACE EFFECTS D.2 MICROWAVE BEAM o IONOSPHERE/BEAM INTERACTION o EFFECTS ON HUMANS, ANIMALS, PLANTS o EFFECTS ON ASTRONOMY, COMMUNICATIONS, ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT o WEATHER EFFECTS AT SURFACE AND IN TROPOSPHERE Figure X-2.- Continued.
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