[AR] Re: Proton or progress resupply failure
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2016 16:23:10 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 2 Dec 2016, William Valliant wrote:
Kinda depressing that a company that has been building rockets for so long
still has problems... Rockets aren't easy.
No complicated, high-tech, low-production-volume system that has to be
perfect the first time is easy, alas. A new airliner gets test-flown
first by the builder, and then by the airline, before it's handed over and
revenue service starts -- and the airline test flight(s) frequently find
things that need fixing. When the hardware can't be test-flown and has no
fault tolerance, well, you pays your money and you rolls the big dice.
Other such one-shot devices, such as cruise missiles (with no rocketry
involved!), likewise have significant failure rates, although neither the
builders nor the users advertise that.
Henry
Other related posts:
