[time-nuts] MTBF (was Rubidium standard)

[Hal Murray]

james.p.lux at jpl.nasa.gov said:
> What they do is buy good parts, use really skilled people and
> consistent processes, check everything 20 times (and how many times
> did we look at each solder joint), test the bejeebers out of the box
> at many stages, put a couple thousand hours on to get past infant
> mortality issues, and hope for the best. 

I think you missed a critical step.  When something breaks, a group of very 
smart people carefully analyze the event in case they can find an interesting 
pattern.

How many other important steps have I overlooked?



> This is a somewhat conservative approach, which is why Mars rovers
> with a requirement for 90 day life are still going some 6 years later.

Go rovers!
  http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN08/wn032808.html

It's really neat to have a successful project like that happen occasionally.


-- 
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's.  I hate spam.