It’s been more than 40 years since the first successful space shuttle launch. However, as we saw with the recent NASA launch, we still have launch failures. Why is it so tough to achieve reliability in space shuttle launches? Does this apply to all space technology?

Question

It’s been more than 40 years since the first successful space shuttle launch. However, as we saw with the recent NASA launch, we still have launch failures. Why is it so tough to achieve reliability in space shuttle launches? Does this apply to all space technology?

In:

Answer 1

For uncrewed launchers, you wouldn’t want extremely high reliability. Extremely high reliability means making things more robust and heavier. It means adding redundant systems that weigh a lot. Weight that you add to the launcher is weight you have to remove from the payload.

I’ve no idea how the economics pay out for any specific launcher, but if they just plain never fail you’ve built them too strong.

Obvs all this goes out the window for crewed launchers.