On Mon, Nov 27, 2000 at 11:07:34AM -0500, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
In spacecraft work, JPL has found that, if you did not strive for "5 sigma's" or even "6 sigma's" of reliability, then there would always be something you hadn't counted on that would drive reliability to zero.
NASA's needs don't reflect our needs. If my router fails, I can get to it to fix it in seconds, and if I need to replace it I don't have to wait five years to launch and another year to reach the target. If I have to have a replacement overnighted, I'm still only down a day, not a decade. Also, NASA's budget for a POP on Mars is a little higher than my budget for a POP in Colorado Springs. Hell, their budget for a single lander is probably higher than my budget for an entire data center.