ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the coupling between system complexity, testing, and reliability and why rocket scientists need at least a rudimentary understanding of this coupling in order to design a launch vehicle (LV) successfully. It helps to understand how parts count plays a part in the reliability of a rocket design. The design engineer must take into account how increased complexity of the rocket and supporting systems will, in turn, decrease the likelihood of success. In order to improve the reliability of the rocket, past development programs show that increased testing is very important. As budget allows, the rocket design effort should plan to test as much as possible. However, in some cases, there are not enough budgets to test exhaustively, and the rocket scientists and engineers must take this into account when making choices on design parameters versus acceptable risks. The chapter shows a typical reliability block diagram (RBD) for a series system.
