On 11/2/2013 6:59 AM, Timon Gehr wrote:
Well, I think it is funny to consider a methodology adequate in hindsight if it
has resulted in a crash. Have the techniques advocated by Walter been thoroughly
applied in this project?
One downside of system redundancy is it adds weight, and spacecraft are
catastrophically sensitive to weight.
When space probes fail, they don't kill people. So while the failures cost money
and are embarrassing, the weight penalty of redundancy may have meant the
mission wasn't practical in the first place.
Tradeoffs, tradeoffs.
I don't know much about failsafe redundancy in, for example, Mars probes. I have
seen discussions about the lack of failsafes in many aspects of the Shuttle
design. They are well known tradeoffs, though, and they know the risks.
Nobody has even figured out how to make failsafe helicopter rotor blades.
Instead, they opt for expensive maintenance and inspections. If a rotor blade
fails, the helicopter crashes and kills everyone aboard.
