Understanding Your Strategy

 Understanding what your preventative strategy can't handle is critical for designing the systems and recovery processes to eliminate or mitigate any failure in mission parameters. Something to keep in mind is that the bigger the disaster, the less effective are detailed plans for dealing with it.

Building in flexibility and ensuring that you have the necessary resources to solve all unexpected problems and developing Step-by-step procedures save time and reduce mistakes, but they are no substitute for people who can creatively handle unexpected situations.

Interplanetary flight, exploration and colonization are unique in that they present greater risks and fewer recovery options, so prevention and redundancy are the two primary keys to successful missions. Neither will function without the other.

Recovery plans put to paper are important as not all situations will be immediately critical. This pre-planning process is practiced in aviation today, especially in flight deck procedures. Should there be an engine flameout the pilot has reference information that ensures they know exactly how to reignite or recover from an engine failure.

This same principal when applied to space systems will be very valuable; however, due to the higher degree of potential risks involved in space, prevention is the key to success.  

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