On: NASA believes it understands why Ingenuity crashed on Mars

[cogman10]

I assume it's because the things that make stuff fail early are also the things that if addressed will make a project live for 75 years.

For example, solar panels for the rovers are overbuilt because you can't clean them if a chance dust storm is a bit too dusty. But that overbuilding also means that as long as the panels stay reasonably free of dust, the rover will last a long time.

[amelius → cogman10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

[UltraSane → cogman10]

The two most recent rovers are nuclear powered.

[verandaguy → UltraSane]

To be fair, this means that solar panels are unlikely to be the source of any issues.

[UltraSane → verandaguy]

You are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.