This provides redundancy, effectively eliminating the single point of failure.
The official reason was that large crews provided redundancy.
Like roadway and water distribution systems, a loop or ring is used to provide redundancy.
Even then, special provision must be made to provide redundancy and eliminate extension in the protection system.
There are also many different ways in which these devices can be arranged to provide geographic redundancy, data security, and portability.
The lines could be operated as two independent lines or paired to provide redundancy.
The purpose of the spares was to provide redundancy to the station in the period following the shuttle's retirement.
This arrangement also provided redundancy and help in the case of emergencies.
I'd love to add two more and use this type of tech to provide expansion and redundancy.
To provide redundancy, a space fountain could be built with more than one projectile loop and power supply.