Raising your horizons

摘要

Unfortunately, and much as some would like you to believe, standard parts are generally not of a high enough performance or quality to be suitable for use in harsh environments, such as defence, aerospace and space applications. Extremes of shock, vibration and temperature, extended life cycles, and possible attack by gases and liquids require components that have been designed to work under specific and often very demanding conditions. Not only that, but they must be ultra-reliable. Put simply, these types of applications must not fail, either because failure would risk life or because the cost of failure would be astronomical (sometimes literally!).