Elpro, Photon, NASA and Sensors

Just when it looked like we were forgetting about sensors, look what this blog has been about most of the week. It is a continuing theme (okay, one of my hobby horses) that we need better, smaller, cheaper, more reliable sensors for every type of measurement. I’ve had real world confirmation of the importance of this point of view this week from Elpro (lifetime warranty), Photon-Control (new and innovative fiber optic sensors) and NASA (scrubbing their comeback launch because of simple sensor failure).
What does it take to make sensors better, and why should vendors do it?
Walt