Manufacturing and Product Development
Thales Alenia Space is a European company that manufactures communications satellites. Researchers at the company have determined that the most common reason for a satellite to fail once it is in orbit is a problem related to opening and initiating the solar panels. Suppose the probability of a failure related to the solar panels is 0.08.
a. What is the probability that the fifth satellite launched will be the first to fail due to a solar-panel problem?
b. What is the expected number of satellites launched until the first one fails due to a solar-panel problem?
c. Thales Alenia Space is preparing an advertising campaign in which they claim to have had 20 successful launches in a row. What is the probability that the first failure due to a solar-panel problem will occur after the 20th launch?