> The transistors cannot simply be replaced. Clipper’s aluminum-zinc electronics vault, meant to provide a measure of radiation resistance, was sealed in October 2023. Barring an indication that the faulty MOSFETs will cause catastrophic failure, the agency will likely seek to continue with the launch—although backup windows are available the next 2 years.
This happened already at least once with a couple Soviet Mars probes - they found a batch of transistors they used were faulty and deteriorate much too quickly in space - after the probes vere already launched.
IIRC some did not even reach Mars while others failed soon after orbit insertion due to various sub-systems failing.
