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"fabulously overbuilt"... not quite, think about this: you have one chance to launch it into space, send it millions of miles away, reenter atmosphere safely an
by elteto 13y ago
"fabulously overbuilt"... not quite, think about this: you have one chance to launch it into space, send it millions of miles away, reenter atmosphere safely and then survive a hostile environment for only (?!?!?) 90 days! There is no overbuilding, by the nature of the mission itself your Factors of Safety [1] are through the roof!!
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_of_safety http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_of_safety
- jfoutz 13y agoAmusingly, in this case there were two chances. I'm saying if Spirit and Opportunity were constructed less well, perhaps we could have afforded a third with the same budget. I don't really have any honest way to value the difference between 10 years of extra data vs another location (i'd guess the more data is better, but that's hindsight bias) Remember, every ounce of "factor of safety" is tens (or hundreds?) of thousands of dollars.