S.Amdt. 6680

SA 6680 is an amendment proposed by Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Lujan to be added to bill S. 4784. The purpose of this amendment is to require the Secretary of Defense to create and submit a report regarding safe orbital launch trajectory options from nontraditional and inland launch sites.

The amendment aims to add Section 1510A, which mandates that the Secretary of Defense—working with the Administrator of NASA and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration—provide a report to specific congressional committees within 180 days of the Act's enactment.

The report must include:

• An assessment of flight safety requirements for overland launch trajectories for reusable and expendable systems across various orbital regimes.
• Modeling for debris-risk and public safety, including environmental and economic impacts.
• An evaluation of vehicles suitable for these sites and the required infrastructure for vertical launch.
• Cost estimates for activating and using these sites.
• A cost-benefit analysis regarding national security resilience versus the investment needed for heavy-lift launch vehicles.
• An analysis of how these options affect future requirements for national security launch providers.
• A framework for integrating these ranges into the national launch enterprise.
• The assumptions used for the report and an assessment of their viability.

The report is to be unclassified but can include a classified annex.