The 30 S(α, p) reaction is considered to be important in the nuclear trajectory to higher mass in type I X-ray bursts. The reaction flow encounters a bottleneck at 30 S, owing to the competition of photo-disintegration with further proton capture, and because the half-life of this isotope is on the order of the burst rise timescale. Different burst simulations by various researchers indicate the (α, p) reaction may bypass this waiting point, depending on the stellar reaction rate, which has not previously been measured experimentally, and the structure of the compound nucleus 34 Ar is not well understood above the alpha-threshold. The 30 S(α, p) reaction could explain rare bolometrically double-peaked burst profiles, appears to make a considerable contribution to the overall energy generation, and affects the neutron star crustal composition for the recurrent inertia required in burst models to reproduce astronomical observations. Using a low-energy 30 S radioactive ion beam and an active target technique (a helium gas mixture serves as both a target gas and a detector fill gas), we acquired data on both alpha elastic scattering of 30 S as well as the 30 S(α, p) reaction simultaneously at relevant energies for X-ray bursts. We present for the first time the status of the data analysis and the preliminary results of this research.