STUDY BACKS X-33 LAUNCHING AT EDWARDS; POTENTIAL ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IS INSIGNIFICANT, NASA SAYS.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

NASA's final environmental impact statement found minimal harm would come from launching the X-33 spacecraft prototype at Edwards Air Force Base and landing it at sites in California, Utah and Montana.

The preferred launch site is near Haystack Butte on the eastern end of Edwards.

The three preferred landing sites are Silurian Lake, a dry lake near Baker, Calif.; Michael Army Air Field at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; and Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Mont.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said seven sites were evaluated for use during a 14-month study that considered public safety, noise, impacts on general aviation and effects on biological and natural resources.

NASA officials said that in 30 days they will formally announce whether the space agency will proceed with the X-33 flight test program as described in the environmental impact statement.

``The study determined that the overall predicted environmental impacts of X-33 were minimal at all sites considered,'' said Rebecca McCaleb, director of environmental engineering and management at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and head of the study.

The wedge-shaped, 273,000-pound X-33 is a small-scale prototype of a reusable launch vehicle that Lockheed Martin wants to develop.

The X-33 will be used to determine if the aerospace industry should proceed to a full-scale commercial vehicle.

The goal is to build a reusable vehicle that can reach orbit with one stage, lowering the cost of putting a pound of payload into space from $10,000 to $1,000. Lockheed Martin has named its full-scale version Venture Star.

The X-33 is being developed under an agreement between NASA and Lockheed Martin's ``Skunk Works'' in Palmdale.

NASA has budgeted $941 million for the program through 1999. Lockheed Martin will invest at least $212 million in its X-33 design.