Designing with Failure in Mind: Multiple Responses to System Failure; Perihelion and Earthquakes

Every system can fail. Systems in harsh or challenging environments, like radiation, chronic and frequent use, and weather variations, also can fail. At perihelion, the Sun is close to the Earth and could be associated with earthquakes. Gravitational forces increase, when the Sun is close to the Earth, and the magma, crust, surface, plates might be affected like Io is affected by close approach of Jupiter. Should we shut down the nation's bridges or evacuate the coasts during such times so that there is no risk of loss of life on bridges or from tsunami? Such a response leads to new problems like food distribution and evacuation questions. The poster will list types of radiation that a spacecraft or astronaut can encounter from gamma, cosmic rays, UV, alpha, beta, photons, etc. The idea of responding with multiple tools and shields to protect a spacecraft or astronaut from damage will be discussed. The idea of multiple responses can be applied to bridge design as well. One could imagine putting a secondary bridge or pontoon system separately supported underneath unstable bridges. Does the risk of failure increase as the supporting environment around the bridge is utilized for supporting a unique structure? Bridges on Io and Europa are looked at. Possibilities of success/failure with each design is discussed. The interaction of multiple responses themselves can lead to system failure. A radiation protection device like a heat shield could increase temperatures and secondary radiations too much and lead to system failures. Multiple responses are useful /helpful, but can create problems as they can increase system and structure stresses and failures.