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The problem with NASA doing so ething similar is quite a bit more of a problem, though. If the HVAC at a school using old technology breaks down, there are many alternatives at all different price points.
If something NASA is using in space flight breaks down, they have a real issue. They need a componenet that satisfies all the envionmental testing, most likely at both the component and system level. They can search for a replacement part on eBay and hope they find it, or they can spend an exorbitant amount of money and time paying someone to reproduce a piece of obsolete technology (with new tooling, testing, etc.). It's one thing not to waste money. It's another to rely on technology that is no longer capable of being cost effectively replaced when it breaks.
They will need to replace its capacitors eventually, if they already haven't.
Capacitors have a lifetime of one to a few decades, then they swell up and leak, and the associated electronics start failing in all sorts of weird ways. Shitty capacitors don't even last a few years. There was a huge batch of those manufactured in the early 2000s due to a corporate espionage operation gone wrong.
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[–] [deleted] 0 points 22 points 22 points (+22|-0) ago
[–] PraiseIPU 0 points 7 points 7 points (+7|-0) ago
like how the space shuttle is still using a chip from the 70's.
It needs to do one thing really well. Don't over complicate things that you rely on.
[–] curomo 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
... I've, uh, got some bad news. They mothballed them years ago.
[–] Thisismyvoatusername 2 points -1 points 1 point (+1|-2) ago
The problem with NASA doing so ething similar is quite a bit more of a problem, though. If the HVAC at a school using old technology breaks down, there are many alternatives at all different price points.
If something NASA is using in space flight breaks down, they have a real issue. They need a componenet that satisfies all the envionmental testing, most likely at both the component and system level. They can search for a replacement part on eBay and hope they find it, or they can spend an exorbitant amount of money and time paying someone to reproduce a piece of obsolete technology (with new tooling, testing, etc.). It's one thing not to waste money. It's another to rely on technology that is no longer capable of being cost effectively replaced when it breaks.
[–] frankenmine 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
They will need to replace its capacitors eventually, if they already haven't.
Capacitors have a lifetime of one to a few decades, then they swell up and leak, and the associated electronics start failing in all sorts of weird ways. Shitty capacitors don't even last a few years. There was a huge batch of those manufactured in the early 2000s due to a corporate espionage operation gone wrong.