The Universe is Hostile to Computers

Tiny particles from distant galaxies have caused plane accidents, election interference and game glitches. This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to sign up via https://brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription.

This video was inspired by the RadioLab Podcast "Bit Flip" https://ve42.co/BF -- they're brilliant science storytellers.

A Huge thanks to Dr Leif Scheick, Calla Cofield and the JPL Media Relations Team.

Thanks to Col Chris Hadfield. Check out his book: https://chrishadfield.ca/books/


References:
J. F. Ziegler, "Terrestrial cosmic rays," in IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 19-39, Jan. 1996, doi: 10.1147/rd.401.0019. -- https://ve42.co/Ziegler1996

D. Binder, E. C. Smith and A. B. Holman, "Satellite Anomalies from Galactic Cosmic Rays," in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 2675-2680, Dec. 1975, doi: 10.1109/TNS.1975.4328188 https://ve42.co/Binder1975

Ziegler, J. F., & Lanford, W. A. (1979). Effect of cosmic rays on computer memories. Science, 206(4420), 776-788 https://ve42.co/Ziegler1979

Drury, L. O. C. (2012). Origin of cosmic rays. Astroparticle Physics, 39, 52-60. https://ve42.co/Drury2012

Hess, V. (2018). On the observations of the penetrating radiation during seven balloon flights. arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.02927. --https://ve42.co/Hess2018

Carlson, P., & De Angelis, A. (2011). Nationalism and internationalism in science: the case of the discovery of cosmic rays. The European Physical Journal H, 35(4), 309-329. -- https://ve42.co/Carlson2011

Heffgen, S. K., Metzger, S., & Steffens, M. (2020). Investigating the effects of cosmic rays on space electronics. Frontiers in Physics, 8, 318. -- https://ve42.co/Hoeffgen2020

Edmonds, L. D., Barnes, C. E., & Scheick, L. Z. (2000). An introduction to space radiation effects on microelectronics. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. -- https://ve42.co/Edmonds2000

NASA Mars 2020 website covering the specifications of the Perseverance Rover https://ve42.co/RoverBrains

Australian Government Australian Transport Safety Bureau report on QF72 -- https://ve42.co/ASTBQantas

Australian Government Australian Transport Safety Bureau summary on QF72 --https://ve42.co/ASTBQantas2

Great Blog post about QF72 -- https://ve42.co/DempseyQantas

Michael Barr's report on the Toyota acceleration issue --https://ve42.co/Barr2015

NASA's Report on Toyota -- https://ve42.co/NASAToyota

T. C. May and M. H. Woods, "A New Physical Mechanism for Soft Errors in Dynamic Memories," 16th International Reliability Physics Symposium, 1978, pp. 33-40, doi: 10.1109/IRPS.1978.362815. --https://ve42.co/May1978

P. M. O'Neill and G. D. Badhwar, "Single event upsets for Space Shuttle flights of new general purpose computer memory devices," in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 1755-1764, Oct. 1994, doi: 10.1109/23.317386. -- https://ve42.co/ONeill1994

Wikipedia about radiation hardening -- https://ve42.co/RadHardening

Toward Monitoring Fault-Tolerant Embedded
Systems (Extended Abstract) -- https://ve42.co/Goodloe2009

Article about speed run -- https://ve42.co/BurttSpeedrun

Article about speed run -- https://ve42.co/BountySpeedrun

Article about redundant systems in spaceflight -- https://ve42.co/NASAComputers

Article about the PowerPC750 -- https://ve42.co/Wener-FlignerNASA

Fuglesang C, Narici L, Picozza P, Sannita WG. Phosphenes in low earth orbit: survey responses from 59 astronauts. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2006 Apr;77(4):449-52. PMID: 16676658. -- https://ve42.co/Fuglesang2006

Good article about Cosmic Rays causing flashes -- https://ve42.co/AtkinsonEye

Good article about radiation resistance -- https://ve42.co/RoverResistance

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Written by Derek Muller and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Ivn Tello, Mike Radjabov, Fabio Albertelli, Jakub Misiek and Charlie Davies
SFX by Shaun Clifford
Filmed by Derek Muller, Raquel Nuno, and Emily Zhang
Edited by Derek Muller and Petr Lebedev
SFX by Shaun Clifford
Additional video supplied by Getty Images
Rover Footage From NASA/JPL-Caltech
QF72 footage from the Smithsonian channel https://youtu.be/H3q5S9PCoJA
SM64 footage from https://ve42.co/pannenkoek2012
Music from Epidemic Sound
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev and Emily Zhang