What term describes the practice of duplicating critical components to maintain function after a failure?

What term describes the practice of duplicating critical components to maintain function after a failure?

• A. Redundancy
• B. Interoperability
• C. Modularity
• D. Resilience

Answer: (A)

Redundancy means duplicating critical components, subsystems, or pathways so the system can keep functioning if one part fails. In space systems, having a spare power supply, avionics, or communication link ready ensures that a failure doesn’t interrupt the mission, because a backup can immediately take over. This approach is about maintaining continuous operation and reliability by design.

Interoperability isn’t about duplicating parts; it’s about different systems and components working together seamlessly. Modularity focuses on organizing a system into interchangeable modules for easier upgrades or maintenance. Resilience is the broader ability to recover from setbacks and adapt, but it doesn’t specifically describe the act of duplicating components to prevent a single point of failure.