Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

Its return was successful. That's the good news, but the flight was not without incident: "Flight controllers conducted more test firings of the capsule’s thrusters following undocking; one failed to ignite. Engineers suspect the more the thrusters are fired, the hotter they become, causing protective seals to swell and obstruct the flow of propellant. They won’t be able to examine any of the parts; the section holding the thrusters was ditched just before reentry."

So they've recovered the capsule, and now they have a theory about what caused the thruster malfunction. And it's not difficult to test thrusters under high temperature as they have test chambers that can easily simulate those conditions. So we may have some answers on the thrusters forthcoming.

But we still don't know about the helium leak. Helium is kinda tricky. It's a very small molecule and can leak easily, that's why rubber helium balloons shrink so rapidly. The mylar helium balloons keep their inflation because mylar is less leaky than rubber: harder for the gas to escape.

Included in the capsule were the two astronauts' space suits and some old lab equipment.

The article has a video of the capsule undocking from the ISS which is pretty cool, seeing the thrusters firing to change its orientation.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/astronauts-left-behind-boeing-starliner-capsule-returns_n_66dbe6e5e4b01c1d24fc405c

This is not just pretty cool, but quite awesome!

There have been 3D printers on the ISS for about a decade now. Earlier this year, the European Space Agency sent up a METAL 3D printer and have been working with it for a few hours a day, to see what's possible in the microgravity environment of the ISS. The printer is limited, of course, to objects about the size of a can of soda. This is, after all, an experiment. They'll print a layer, do all sorts of analysis on it, then print another. Once they're done with their experiment, the samples will be returned to Earth for all sorts of additional analysis.

The objective? Circular recycling! The ultimate concept is to be able to capture and reuse some of the satellites in space. Figuring out if they can successfully print new parts is one aspect of this program. To some degree, capturing space objects has been demonstrated. The thing that bothers me is the labor involved in safely dismantling a whatever and then the energy costs to reduce it into whatever is needed to feed an industrial-sized 3D metal printer.

The emphasis on safety because the USA and Russia are careful to vent fuel and discharge batteries on rocket boosters after they have completed their missions. Currently, the Chinese do not. I do not know about other nations that have entered the NEO industrial age.

SpaceX, of course, tries to take their empties home with 'em. And I give 'em big props for that.

There's a photo in The Register article that shows the objects they have printed thus far. They look like decent amateur lathe work. Then you realize they're not screwed to the base plate, they're BUILT THERE.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/06/esa_metal_3d_printing/

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/09/06/2225225/esa-prints-3d-metal-shape-in-space-for-first-time