Originally Posted by
happyjack
I am very surprised that there appears to have been little consideration for Odysseus not touching down perfectly? Simple solutions were available?
There are (conservatively) thousands of failure modes for a complex automated space mission. Addressing each of them with 'simple' mechanical solutions would add up to a very large increase in weight. As a starting point, the launch platform is set by the budget for the mission and the delta v requirement is fixed. This sets the maximum weight and dimensions of the spacecraft. Once you add in the basic mechanical components and the science components (which would have been set in the tender) your opportunities to add redundancy through additional mechanical components (rather than improved control software) becomes very limited indeed. I'm sure that a great deal of thought was given to this type of failure at the design stage but it is much easier to see the solution when you
know what went wrong and don't have to work to the design constraints. The design challenges of building this type of spacecraft to a commercial budget are immense; it is still a very impressive accomplishment.