What is FMEA used for in space systems?

• A. To monitor mission telemetry
• B. To identify potential failure modes, effects, and prioritize mitigations
• C. To plan launch windows
• D. To evaluate crew wellness

Answer: (B)

FMEA is a proactive risk-assessment method used to identify potential failure modes, their effects on the system, and to prioritize mitigations. In space systems, engineers systematically consider every function or component to determine how it could fail, what a failure would mean for mission safety and performance, and how likely or detectable that failure might be. By evaluating and ranking these failure modes, teams can focus design changes, redundancy, testing, and procedures on the most significant risks before flight, reducing the chance of surprises during operations. This approach is distinct from monitoring telemetry in real time, planning launch windows, or evaluating crew wellness, which are about observation, timing, and human factors rather than preemptive failure analysis.