Science Marvels: From Atacama's Gigapixel Camera to Starship's Spectacular Landing

Current science news highlights include Chile installing the world's largest astronomy camera in Atacama, Boeing's Starliner docking at the ISS, and the implications of new uranium fuel for U.S. reactors. Other stories cover China's lunar sample return, the impact of warmer temperatures on Malaysian turtles, and SpaceX's Starship landing test success.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Chile to install world's largest astronomy camera on the edge of Atacama desert

With a resolution above 3.2 gigapixels, a nearly three-ton weight and the ambitious task of carrying out an unprecedented decade-long exploration, the largest digital camera ever built for optical astronomy is ready to be installed under the clear skies of northern Chile. The pieces required to assemble the Vera C. Rubin Observatory - which includes a ground-based telescope and the camera - traveled in several vehicles to the summit of Cerro Pachón in the Coquimbo region, on the edge of the Atacama desert, some 565 kilometers north of Santiago.

Boeing Starliner's first astronaut crew welcomed aboard space station

Boeing's new Starliner capsule and an inaugural two-member NASA crew safely docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, meeting a key test in proving the vessel's flight-worthiness and sharpening Boeing's competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX. The rendezvous was achieved despite an earlier loss of several guidance-control jet thrusters, some of them due to a helium propulsion leak, which NASA and Boeing said should not compromise the mission.

Uranium fuel planned for high-tech US reactors a weapons risk, scientists say

A special uranium fuel planned for next-generation U.S. nuclear reactors poses security risks because it could be used without further enrichment as fissile material in nuclear weapons, scientists said in an article published on Thursday. The fuel, called high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, is enriched to levels of up to 20%, compared with about 5% for the fuel that powers most existing reactors. Until recently it was made in commercial amounts only in Russia, but the United States wants to produce it to fuel a new wave of reactors.

Factbox-Who are the first astronauts to fly aboard Boeing's Starliner?

Two veteran NASA astronauts with 500 days of previous spaceflight experience between them are the first crew of Boeing's pxpCST-100 Starliner space capsule, launched to space in a test flight on Wednesday from Florida. Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams are set to test Starliner's manual controls before it docks with the International Space Station (ISS) in orbit on Thursday. Both will be arriving at the ISS for the third time.

Planet-forming disk around small star offers big surprises

Stars about the size of our sun are not the most common ones in the Milky Way. Much smaller stars are way more common - and those host the most rocky planets in the galaxy, the type in focus as scientists search for worlds capable of harboring life.

New research is providing insight into how planets form around these small stars, called very low mass stars (VLMS), showing how the chemistry in the planet-forming disks of gas and dust surrounding them differs substantially from such disks observed around stars like the sun.

China's Chang'e-6 transfers moon samples to spacecraft, set for return to Earth

China's Chang'e-6 probe transferred samples it collected from the moon's far side to a spacecraft in lunar orbit on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua reported. After receiving the samples, the uncrewed spacecraft will fly back to Earth, with an expected landing in China's Inner Mongolia region on June 25. If successful, China will be the first country to ever return lunar matter from the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth.

In Malaysia, warmer temperatures mean fewer male turtles, hurting conservation efforts

On a secluded Malaysian beach, a group of volunteers carefully retrieved newly laid sea turtle eggs in the sand and moved them to a shady, cooler location, in response to fears by researchers that warmer weather is leading to fewer male hatchlings. The temperature of the developing turtle eggs is what determines sex. Observers at the Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary on Redang Island believe they are already seeing fewer males being hatched due to climate change - with the situation made worse this year by prolonged hot and dry spells caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

China says open to space cooperation with US but 'hurdles' remain

China remains open towards cooperation with countries including the United States in space, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, following congratulations from U.S. space agency NASA on China's Chang'e-6 mission to the far side of the moon. But the United States needs to remove obstacles towards further cooperation, Mao Ning, a spokesperson at the ministry, said at a regular news conference.

SpaceX's Starship survives return to Earth, aces landing test on fourth try

SpaceX's Starship rocket survived a fiery, hypersonic return from space and achieved a breakthrough landing demonstration in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, completing a full test mission around the globe on the rocket's fourth try. Starship's controlled fall into the Indian Ocean just 65 minutes after launching from Texas capped the latest advance in the company's test-to-failure rocket development campaign, a multibillion-dollar effort by Elon Musk's space company to build a reusable satellite launcher and moon lander.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)