7 ms·

Well, I'm glad they didn't find out, by the board crapping out, around Jupiter.

• sva_ 2y ago
  > The transistors cannot simply be replaced. Clipper’s aluminum-zinc electronics vault, meant to provide a measure of radiation resistance, was sealed in October 2023. Barring an indication that the faulty MOSFETs will cause catastrophic failure, the agency will likely seek to continue with the launch—although backup windows are available the next 2 years.
  • ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
    Yeah, but if they figure out that the transistors are problematic, at least, they can do something about it, even if it does delay the launch. They may also use this as a spur to wargame failure mitigation strategies, so they'll be ready, if they do go belly-up.
• DannyBee 2y ago
  Right. Like for all the issues here, it's still better to find this out now.
• m4rtink 2y ago
  This happened already at least once with a couple Soviet Mars probes - they found a batch of transistors they used were faulty and deteriorate much too quickly in space - after the probes vere already launched. IIRC some did not even reach Mars while others failed soon after orbit insertion due to various sub-systems failing.