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Comment by wolverine876 | Hacker News Reader

Japan has lots of exceptional engineers, lots of people and institutions skilled in managing highly successful engineering projects, and lots of money. Why are there so many problems with space technology (or is that my imagination)?

I'm not looking for a cultural answer, which is usually nonsense. Is it just not a priority? Doesn't pay well?

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You can't really test a rocket until you fly it. You can ground test subsystems and components all you want, but that's not a system-level test of a rocket. The only true system-level test of a rocket is to fly it. When you deal with volatile hypergolic substances subjected to extreme conditions all flowing through a complex system-of-systems that have never been through integrated testing together, you are going to have some spectacular failures. Doesn't matter how much money you have or how clever your engineers are or what a quality organization you've implemented.

How does that address the issue of why Japan seems to have more problems in space projects?

Is it clear that they do have more problems? The U.S. Government blew up a majority of its initial rockets. U.S. private sector companies almost always have a failed first launch. SpaceX's Falcon 1 failed in 3 of its first 5 launches. Japan having a failed first flight is 100% what one would expect—it would be exceptional had it not failed.

I'm talking about space missions in general, not just rockets in particular. But as I said, maybe it's just my perception.

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