3 ms·
You can't just make space equipment less reliable because launching it is cheaper. Equipment failures will kill people and ruin missions. Things that might work
by giantrobot 5y ago
You can't just make space equipment less reliable because launching it is cheaper. Equipment failures will kill people and ruin missions. Things that might work fine on Earth's surface will not work the same way in space. Even seemingly mundane failures can damage important components.
- TeMPOraL 5y agoMost missions aren't manned. If your equipment is cheap enough, you can just send more and achieve reliability through numbers. If you don't have to optimize for mass so hard, you can achieve reliability through cheaper means - e.g. simplifying heat management by bolting on a larger radiator; simplifying radiation effects mitigation by having multiple CPUs running the same calculations and voting on results, and/or making thicker rad insulation. Etc.