Boeing Starliner Facing Unplanned Delays Due to Technical Glitches

Boeing's Starliner capsule, still docked at the International Space Station, faces multiple technical issues including helium leaks, thruster failures, and valve problems. NASA has postponed the capsule's return to Earth multiple times, with no current date set, drawing out a mission critical for Boeing's space division.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Explainer-How Boeing's Starliner can bring its astronauts back to Earth

Problems with Boeing's Starliner capsule, still docked at the International Space Station (ISS), have upended the original plans for its return of its two astronauts to Earth, as last-minute fixes and tests draw out a mission crucial to the future of Boeing's space division. NASA has rescheduled the planned return three times, and now has no date set for it. Since its June 5 liftoff, the capsule has had five helium leaks, five maneuvering thrusters go dead and a propellant valve fail to close completely, prompting the crew in space and mission managers in Houston to spend more time than expected pursuing fixes mid-mission.

Study firms up date of famous ancient shipwreck off Cyprus

When scientists in the 1960s excavated the wreck of an ancient Greek merchant ship off the northern coast of Cyprus, what they found was an amazing time capsule from a pivotal period in the Mediterranean world following the death of Alexander the Great. But determining the date of the Kyrenia shipwreck with any sort of precision has proven difficult, and some previous scientific dating yielded conclusions that conflicted with the archeological evidence. Researchers have now calculated this timeline with new precision using improved techniques that they said can be applied to date other ancient shipwrecks as well.

Protecting 1.2% of Earth would prevent most extinctions, study says

Setting aside an additional 1.2% of the world's land as nature preserves would prevent the majority of predicted plant and animal extinctions and cost about $263 billion, according to a study published on Tuesday. The world is racing to meet a goal to protect 30% of the world by 2030 to protect wildlife that is being decimated by climate change, pollution and habitat destruction.

Musk's SpaceX gets $843 million to help discard International Space Station around 2030

NASA awarded SpaceX $843 million to build a vehicle capable of pushing the International Space Station into Earth's atmosphere for its planned destruction around 2030, it said on Wednesday, a task originally meant for Russia's thrusters. Under its new NASA contract, SpaceX will build what the space agency called the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle to deorbit the space station and avoid risks to populated areas, with NASA taking ownership of the craft and handling the deorbiting operation.

Fossil of child with Down syndrome hints at Neanderthal compassion

Living among a small band of Neanderthals in what is now eastern Spain was a child, perhaps 6 years old, with Down syndrome, as shown in a remarkable fossil preserving traits in the inner ear anatomy indicative of this serious genetic condition. This fossil, unearthed at the Cova Negra archeological site in the province of Valencia near the city of Xàtiva, not only represents the earliest-known evidence of Down syndrome but, according to scientists, hints at compassionate caregiving in these extinct archaic humans - close cousins to our own species.

Argentina sequences leafhopper genome to battle crop-destroying insect

An Argentine scientific institute has cracked the genome of the leafhopper, the insect which carries the bacteria responsible for wiping out vast swathes of the South American nation's latest corn crop, the government said on Tuesday. The development, which determined the Dalbulus maidis' genetic makeup, will serve future efforts to fight off the leafhopper, according to the government statement.

Russian satellite blasts debris in space, forces ISS astronauts to shelter

A Russian satellite broke up into more than 100 pieces of debris in orbit overnight, forcing astronauts on the International Space Station to take shelter, U.S. space agencies said. There were no immediate details on what caused the break-up of the RESURS-P1 Russian Earth observation satellite, which was decommissioned in 2022.

RTX's Collins in talks to drop ISS spacesuit contract with NASA, sources say

RTX Corp subsidiary Collins Aerospace is in talks with NASA to back out of its contract to build new spacesuits for astronauts on the International Space Station, a setback as the agency struggles with its decades-old spacewalking suits, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The contract was part of $3.5 billion NASA awarded to both Collins and Axiom Space in 2022 to build new spacesuits for the ISS and future moon missions. Collins got an initial $97 million under the program for ISS suit development, while it could vie with Axiom to get additional funds to work on lunar spacesuits.

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