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I wonder how much more expensive was it to create the parachute with the code.
by 725686 6y ago
I wonder how much more expensive was it to create the parachute with the code.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bentcorner 6y agoProbably not a lot. I believe they needed to create a pattern on the parachute anyway for tracking orientation and inflation.
- dmitriid 6y agoAlmost everything in these missions is a one-off order built to unique specifications. The color of the parachute? It was probably not even a line item. As a sibling comment pointed out, they'd still would've colored it in a way that helped with tracking and orientation.
- Igelau 6y agoMost places that do custom printing for Mars-ready parachutes give you a nice 10% off coupon if you sign up for e-mails, or they might have snagged a Black Friday deal.
- asimjalis 6y agoNever understood downvotes on questions or on economics. The cost of something affects how well it will scale. This is like downvoting a question about performance specs. Cost is a performance spec that determines scaling.
- Igelau 6y agoSubtle play of the classic HN "but does it scale?" joke. As if someone is concerned about how well martian parachute assembly processes scale :D
- kelnos 6y agoI personally saw it as a low-effort question, which could also indicate someone trolling, or trying (and failing) to make a joke. When you've spent billions of dollars on something, dyeing the fabric of your parachute in a particular pattern is obviously such a tiny tiny tiny tiny fraction of a percent of your budget that it's entirely irrelevant. If you were planning on building these for something where the cost of the parachute would actually matter, and need to do so at scale, perhaps you'd switch to a single-color parachute (with simple orientation/tracking markings). This discussion isn't really interesting at all.
- 725686 6y agoWhen you start adding tiny tiny tiny fractions to a multi-million dollar project because, come on it is a tiny tiny tiny fraction, and everybody in the team starts doing it in their module/subsystem because, it is a tiny tiny tiny fraction, it starts adding up... that is really what my rhetorical question was.