[huggyface]

This is overly cynical. When people say "Why don't they just...", it is a sincere question, not a rhetorical statement. "Oh radiation...that makes sense". "Oh they had to bake the tech for 8 years". Etc.

Sidenote - "Why don't they just" shield the electronics rather than making the electronics itself radiation proof? I ask that knowing that there is a legitimate reason (shielding weight?), but it is something I have sincerely often wondered.

[Retric]

'Radiation' is not a single unified thing. You can shield some things chicken wire with multi inch holes in it. Other can travel though the earth before hitting you. On of the basic problems is some of the things that help you vs one type of radiation makes other things worse. Also, Mars missions are multi year affairs so even at background radiation levels on earth you are going to have problems.

PS: If you added up the entire mass of everything ever put into orbit you would not be able to make a shield to guarantee normal equipment would be able to stand a 5 year mission in space.

[natep]

The problem is that you can't fully control the meaning that someone takes from your statement. As a spacecraft enginner that knows many of the possible justifications for these "why don't they just"s, it's the negative connotation that springs to mind first, even without the "just". I think it is because that phrase is often used in the imperative sense, and not in a knowledge-seeking sense. Google autocomplete for "why don't you" suggests "stay", "get a job", "love me", and "do right" and if someone were to ask me any of those questions, I would not assume they were sincerely wondering anything.

Now, if you're wondering how better to phrase your questions of this sort, I'm afraid I don't have any specifics, because I'm not sure if I'm just as guilty of this, or if I've successfully rephrased my questions of this sort. What I do is try to imagine that I've spent years designing, building, and debugging the thing in question, and gone through multiple reviews by outside organizations where every design decision was scrutinized, and had many meetings with coworkers (formal and informal) to discuss the thing in question. And then I ask my question in the affirmative, rather than in the negative, such as:

"Why did you do X, would Y also work?"

"I would have done Y. What is it about X or Y that I am missing?"