QUESTION:
I has heard that during landing, the Pathfinder craft was subjected to up to
40Gs of force. I also heard that you have tried to use off-the-shelf
components. How do you reconcile this requirement of 40Gs with off-the-shelf
components? I didn't think that off-the-shelf compnents such as radios could
withstand such a force.

ANSWER from Guy Beutelschies on July 19th,1997;
We had a throrough qualification program where we subjected our electronics
to greater than 40Gs using a centrifuge (it was a very exciting test).  It
turns out that commercial components, properly installed on a structure, can
take those kind of loads.  Even your radio would probably survive.

Guy Beutelschies	Mars Pathfinder Flight Engineer