CatEx   Categorical Exclusion

CEQ   Council on Environmental Quality

CFR   Code of Federal Regulations

CWA   Clean Water Act

CZMA   Coastal Zone Management Act

DoI   (U.S.) Department of the Interior

EA   Environmental Assessment

EMD   Environmental Management Division

EIS   Environmental Impact Statement

FONSI   Finding of No Significant Impact

FR   Federal Register

GSA   General Services Administration

NEPA   National Environmental Policy Act

NHPA   National Historic Preservation Act

SEO   Senior Environmental Official

OGC   Office of the General Counsel

PPO   Planetary Protection Office

REC   Record of Environmental Consideration

ROD   Record of Decision

U.S.C.   United States Code

Definitions

1. A2 Mission Multiple—The A2 Mission Multiple is a calculated value based on the total amount of radioactive material being launched. This value is used in defining the level of review and approval required for launch.

2. Earth Return Mission (also known as a Sample Return)—A subcategory of missions that would collect extraterrestrial materials from solar system bodies and return them to Earth.

3. NASA Senior Environmental Official—The Senior NASA Headquarters Official responsible for providing executive and functional leadership for environmental compliance. As of January 1, 2011, the SEO is the Assistant Administrator for Strategic Infrastructure.

4. Record of Environmental Consideration—A brief document that is used to describe a proposed action, identify the applicable categorical exclusion, and explain why further environmental analysis is not required.

5. Restricted Earth Return—A subcategory of Earth Return Missions which requires additional measures to ensure that any potential indigenous life form would be contained so that it could not impact humans or Earth's environment.

6. Space Flight Projects/Programs—Those NASA actions that develop products intended for use in space and/or that support ground and space operations for products in space.

7. Unrestricted Earth Return—NASA Procedural Requirements define this as a subcategory of Earth Return Missions that would collect extraterrestrial materials from solar system bodies (deemed by scientific opinion to have no indigenous life forms) and return those samples to Earth. No planetary protection measures are required for the inbound (return to Earth) phase of the mission.