Scope and Limits

Recognize the Scope and Limits of your Risk Analysis

This paper is about mission survivability; it utilizes best practices of risk evaluation and mitigation, and applies these to various aspects of interplanetary colonialism.

A few examples of what questions to ask yourself when you are doing your risk analysis might include:

·       What situations does your current strategy not include?
(everything is critical in a hostile environment)

·       What if there is no electric power or fresh air supply for more than a day?
(how many redundancies are too many when you are holding your breath)

·       What resources are you assuming will be available after a disaster?
(did you store all of your supplies and backups in one location)

·       What if an entire building is destroyed or the entire communication network is down
(are you operating from one lunar lander, or two – do you have redundant communications stored elsewhere)

Generally speaking, a corporate risk analysis would identify:

·       possible areas of concern

·       determine possible ways of preventing such an occurrence

·       determine the costs associated with a particular potential failure v/s the cost of stopping the occurrence.

·       decide if the company is willing to accept that risk and the costs associated with it

·       choose to fix the problem if the risk is unacceptable

The Challenger disaster clearly points out that a known risk is an unacceptable one that needs to be dealt with.

NEXT