I have always place diamond turning and aerospace composites part/tooling very high on my list of high stakes manufacturing.

The process that this mirror goes through, just redefined high stakes for me.

Think about it, if somebody or something makes an error with any significance. Bolt wasn't secured, sensor calibration was off, etc. The entire project is derailed by years. Just getting new material, will take at least a year based on the video.

In aerospace, usually it's alot of money to scrap a part. But then you call up your supplier, and they can make another one "quickly".

With this, you have no wiggle. At all.

I'm curious how they manage risk/failure modes on their team/facility/machines with a project so critical.

Especially since the entire project has a QTY output of less than 10 over a few years.