4 ms·

Losing a one-off sattelite is very expensive. Losing a handful of satellites that are produced by the thousands in a factory is not quite as big a setback as i

• HarryHirsch 4y ago
  Finding out that there's a systematic issue with a new model that was overlooked until after launch might be, though. It does betray deficiencies in engineering and testing. Then there was that incident where they launched a batch into the wrong kind of space weather, the atmosphere had been heated up by a solar flare, and the ion engine couldn't overcome the increased drag from the temporarily increased density. It looks wasteful.
  • Fatnino 4y ago
    It's hardware rich development.