if companies experience a lot of trial and error getting rockets into space (because, ya know, rocket science… is hard) how do we know ICBMs won’t fail in their trajectory?

Question

It just seems like a lot of ICBMs may be based on older technology, and even the new space exploration companies out there have a lot of difficulty along the way. In an extinction-level, all-out nuclear war, are we even sure ICBMs and other similar weapons won’t fail?

In: Physics

Answer 1

You can never be sure something won’t fail, but the important difference here is, as you said, these space companies that experience failures are predominantly testing new developments. The starship for instance is in development and a unique craft. The ICBMs that will be carrying nukes around the world are old, tested technology. The bigger issue with them is going to be failures due to age.