How many appliances/devices do you have that have run more or less flat-out for 30+ years?
I don’t have any. Mostly because there’s not much I have that is run flat out.
I offered no critic of the Hubble Program. ZIP. I agreed with your position of redundant systems adding reliability. I almost have to agree with you on that simply because I spent more than 45 years building redundancy into various systems. I further explained that now that Hubble is running on its redundant system and we lack the ability to repair the primary then when the backup system fails (and it will fail, 3 months or 30 years isn't relevant), that IS the end of this program.
I'm not sure how your response above even ties into this outside of your 30 years quip. I do not have redundant washer/dryer, refrig, etc... If I did so with the idea of redundancy, then I'd be looking to get the primary repaired so I could maintain the redundancy. duh! Now, get those primary systems on the Hubble repaired. If you don't you are operating without redundancy. In your own words, it is now LESS reliable.
I can account for one Philco freezer that I owned for more than 25 years and it was at least 15 years old when I bought it. It was running flat out when I bought it. It ran flat out the entire time I owned it. To my knowledge it is still running flat out 6 years since I had to abandon it with my daughter.