Re: ROCKET TOXICS

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

AIR FORCE "HIROIG" TO STUDY ROCKET OZONE DEPLETION

 Thus far, there has been only one known measurement of localized
ozone depletion from a solid rocket launch. A U-2 aircraft flew through a
Titan III launch plume at 18 km altitude, 13 minutes after the launch. Ozone
density had dropped 40%.

 We don't really know the localized impact of solid rocket launches
on the ozone layer because we haven't had the instruments to measure it.
NASA's Total Ozone Monitoring Spectrometer (TOMS) was not designed
to measure localized changes.

 Consequently, the Air Force and the Aerospace Corporation are
developing the High Resolution Ozone Imager, which may be ready for
launching, on an orbiting spacecraft, in 1997. While designed to measure
the ozone impact of launches, it will be available for other stratospheric
studies.

 For a copy of a brochure about HIROIG, contact the Space and
Missile Systems Center's Office of Public Affairs at 310/363-0030.