the article says this capsule is only rated for a 45 day stay. it did not say why only 45 days, but that count down started on June 6. they also did not say what would happen if those days elapse. do they just push it away from the shuttle and let it just become space trash? some sort of auto return on a intentional burn up in atmosphere trajectory?
Beyond whatever its rated time remaining, (which usually has to do with weird things like abort system batteries, etc.) there is a _much more pressing issue_ which is that it is _actively leaking a finite supply of helium_ from the myriad thruster leaks, and while it only requires 7 lbs to reenter, they also only have 75 lbs, and are losing more every second.
Perhaps my information is outdated, and happy to be updated, but I don't think they're losing anything while docked because the system is valved off. Once they depart, the leaks will begin again.
If Starliner isn't cleared to return live humans, whatever contingency procedures they come up with can still be tested with a payload of station garbage. The ship can be flown remotely and is fully automated. Even if it doesn't bring its crew back (and they wait for the next Dragon) it can still yield a lot of data.
And, quite frankly, that it can still operate with all those leaks is a testament to good, robust, design.
Well, it literally is, since it's not definite. It just doesn't meet the colloquial definition.
Isn‘t „until end of July“ definite?
Not after all these delays so far
How precise would the timing need to be to qualify as definite?
1 Planck time
An actual date or date range.
it "indefinitely delays", not "delays indefinitely".