Rocky Jones wrote:
Another "human error" Hindsight is wonderful. I don't think we should reject an option that requires propulsion because of past errors that are now well understood.
-- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Nigel A. Gunn. G8IFF W8IFF (was KC8NHF) 1865 El Camino Drive, Xenia, OH 45385-1115, USA 937 825 5032
Nigel..."Xenia..." been there...lovely place
What would concern me about propulsion is the fact that these are errors (which are I think systemic) of not being able to understand a process and design out the errors.
I've never read (that doesnt mean it doesnt exist I have just never read it) that a really good understanding of what happened on AO40 exist...but what I have read is that it is a lot like the gear pins...
If you are only learning from mistakes and not proactively avoiding problems by design and practice, that is a real issue as Rocky says. Have all the possible problems with propulsion been identified, and there is a process or practice to control them? Probably not. So, there either has to be an effort made to make sure that there will be no catastrophic problems, or there has to be a plan for dealing with them in the design which will keep them from impacting other parts of the system.
Gregg Wonderly W5GGW