Boeing’s problematic Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to start its return to Earth on Friday evening, leaving behind the two NASA astronauts it carried to the International Space Station three months ago.

It will crash onto White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico six hours after it undocks from the station. In the event of inclement weather or technical difficulties, Starliner’s return is scheduled for September 10, September 14, or September 18.

NASA officials said that despite extensive investigation and ground testing, they were still unsure of the exact source of the propulsion system issues that Starliner encountered in June as it neared the space station.

Officials from NASA and Boeing have stated that they anticipate the empty Starliner’s return journey to be uneventful. Furthermore, they insist that the two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose stays on the space station have been extended, could have most likely still been returned safely by the spacecraft.

During a press conference on Wednesday, NASA’s manager of the commercial crew program, Steve Stich, stated, “We have confidence in the vehicle.” He mentioned that Starliner had made a successful landing on unmanned test flights in the past.

“We’ve had two good landings with Starliner so far, and we’re expecting another one Friday,” Mr. Stich stated.

Nevertheless, persistent anxiety prompted managers to choose for what they saw as the safer course of action: keeping Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore aboard the space station for an additional five months, and having them return in February aboard the Crew Dragon, a spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rival company.

NASA’s Dana Weigel, program manager for the space station, stated that both Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore had trained for a lengthier assignment that involved using the robotic arm and conducting spacewalks.

According to Ms. Weigel, “We had them well prepared to move into this role.”

Starliner will use its thrusters to retreat after undocking and then pass above the space station. The move was modified from what the astronauts would have performed if they had been on board. Mr. Stich remarked, “It’s a quicker way away from station, way less stress on the thrusters.”

The deviation makes use of brief thruster pulses, which are less likely to result in the heating that is thought to have decreased the 28 tiny thrusters’ June performance. Helium leaks occurred as well; helium is an inert gas that is utilized to propellant. However, it still contains a lot more helium than is required for the journey back.

The main movement involves the spaceship losing orbit due to the larger thrusters firing. The spacecraft’s smaller thrusters—including the ones that failed during docking—are responsible for maintaining its heading.

Although the smaller thrusters are a backup for taking the spaceship out of orbit in case the larger thrusters malfunction, the larger thrusters have not experienced any issues thus far.

What will happen to the Starliner program after the landing is still up in the air. The mission in June, which was the first to carry astronauts, was meant to be the last in NASA’s certification procedure before Starliner could start making yearly flights to the space station.

NASA may ask Boeing to do an additional crewed flight test. After nearly instantaneous mechanical issues with Starliner’s first launch in December 2019, the business decided to repeat a crewless flight test.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated last month at a press conference that Kelly Ortberg, the company’s new CEO, had given him assurances that Boeing will carry on its Starliner project.

But Boeing would have to pay a heavy price for it. Boeing inked a $4.2 billion contract with NASA in 2014. The contract stipulated preset sums for reaching benchmarks such as certification, and the business is not paid until it satisfies those requirements. In contrast to many conventional so-called cost-plus contracts, the agreement with the government requires Boeing to bear the cost of overruns and delays.

Boeing has already deducted $1.6 billion from its Starliner program expenses.

Scientists have finally detected and measured a faint, elusive energy field enveloping our planet known as the ambipolar field. First theorized over 60 years ago, this electric field’s discovery marks a significant advancement in our understanding of Earth’s behavior and evolution.

“Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field,” says Glyn Collinson, an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Now that we’ve measured it, we can start exploring how it’s influenced Earth and other planets over time.”

Earth is far from a static mass floating in space. It’s surrounded by various fields, including gravity, which holds the atmosphere close to the surface, and the magnetic field, which shields the planet from solar wind and radiation while also preventing the atmosphere from dissipating into space.

In 1968, a new phenomenon was described by scientists. Spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles detected a supersonic wind of particles escaping from the atmosphere, leading to the hypothesis of a third energy field—the ambipolar field.

“The ambipolar field is a force of chaos,” Collinson explains. “It counteracts gravity and pulls particles into space. Until now, we couldn’t measure it due to a lack of technology. That’s why we developed the Endurance rocket ship to hunt for this elusive force.”

The ambipolar field is expected to emerge at around 250 kilometers (155 miles) above Earth’s surface in the ionosphere, where extreme ultraviolet and solar radiation ionize atmospheric atoms, creating positively charged ions. While lighter electrons try to escape into space, heavier ions sink toward the ground. The resulting electric field, known as the ambipolar field, tethers these particles together, balancing the forces acting on them.

This field is weak, which is why Collinson and his team designed sensitive instrumentation to detect it. The Endurance mission, launched in May 2022, reached an altitude of 768 kilometers (477 miles) before returning to Earth with crucial data. The mission successfully measured a change in electric potential of just 0.55 volts—barely enough to power a watch battery—but sufficient to explain the polar wind.

This small charge exerts a force on hydrogen ions 10.6 times stronger than gravity, propelling them into space at supersonic speeds. Oxygen ions, which are heavier, are also lifted higher, increasing the ionosphere’s density at high altitudes by 271 percent compared to what it would be without the ambipolar field.

This discovery is just the beginning. The implications of the ambipolar field, including how long it has existed, what role it plays in shaping Earth’s atmosphere, and its influence on the planet’s evolution and life, remain largely unknown.

“This field is a fundamental part of how Earth functions,” Collinson says. “Now that we’ve measured it, we can start addressing some of these bigger and more exciting questions.”

This week, Mars and Jupiter will be visible in a close conjunction that hasn’t been seen in years.

From Earth’s perspective, the two planets will be closest to one another on Wednesday since 2018.

The two will actually be separated by more than 350 million miles. The experience is a phenomenal illustration of the perfect time and location combination. An astronomy phenomenon known as conjunction will occur when Mars swiftly passes Jupiter and the Earth is positioned in such a way as to make the other two planets appear extremely close.

Because of both planets’ brightness, a celestial optical illusion will be evident to the unaided eye. It will be a few years before the Mars-Jupiter encounter occurs again.

The ideal time to see the pair is a few hours before sunrise. On Wednesday, the two planets will seem closest. However, Elizabeth Warner, a professor member in the University of Maryland’s Astronomy Department, points out that viewers can begin to enjoy the pair right away and watch as the apparent distance between Mars and Jupiter gets closer and then farther apart.

“You’ll be able to see how these two kinds of dance through the sky,” she said, advising onlookers to check the sky each morning, preferably before dawn.

Mars, the red planet, will begin to move apart from Jupiter, the gas giant, after Wednesday. However, there will always be causes for concern. NASA reports that on August 27, the crescent moon will align with the two planets to form a brilliant asteroid belt.