I recall the topic of radiation flipping bits came up recently on the list. Here's an article about the subject.
The Computer Errors From Outer Space, <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221011-how-space-weather-causes-computer-errors>. From the article:
That such a thing can happen has been understood since at least the
1970s, when researchers showed that radiation from outer space could
affect the computers on satellites. This radiation can take various
forms and originate from a number of different sources, both inside and
outside our Solar System. But here's what one scenario might look like:
protons blasted towards Earth by the Sun smash into atoms in our
atmosphere, releasing neutrons from the nuclei of those atoms. These
high energy neutrons don't have a charge but they can go on to smash
into other particles, triggering secondary radiation that does have a
charge. Because bits in computer memory devices are sometimes stored as
a tiny electrical charge, that secondary radiation now flying around
can upend the bits, flipping them from one state to another, which
changes the data.
1970s, when researchers showed that radiation from outer space could
affect the computers on satellites. This radiation can take various
forms and originate from a number of different sources, both inside and
outside our Solar System. But here's what one scenario might look like:
protons blasted towards Earth by the Sun smash into atoms in our
atmosphere, releasing neutrons from the nuclei of those atoms. These
high energy neutrons don't have a charge but they can go on to smash
into other particles, triggering secondary radiation that does have a
charge. Because bits in computer memory devices are sometimes stored as
a tiny electrical charge, that secondary radiation now flying around
can upend the bits, flipping them from one state to another, which
changes the data.
Page 16 of this presentation lists some radiation-hardened processors used by NASA: <https://nepp.nasa.gov/mafa/talks/MAFA07_17_Keys.pdf>. According to the slide deck, rad-hardened processors lag commercial processors by about 10 years.
Jeff
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