Not all Threats are Hostile

While it is tempting to focus attention on hostile actions, adverse conditions due to natural phenomena may also disrupt the proper functioning of a space system. Space is often viewed by the uninitiated as a somewhat benign environment when this couldn’t be further from the truth. Satellite design has always had to accommodate extreme environmental conditions, such as wide temperature ranges, but as we place more complex technology in payloads, the threat portfolio expands. This video provides an excellent explanation of the ramifications of single event upsets (SEUs) caused by high-energy cosmic rays on modern digital hardware. The flip of a single bit may be a recipe for disaster and is far from a Black Swan occurrence. This is a good reminder that the range of threats encompasses far more than black hat adversaries attempting to disrupt a system’s operation. Watch the video here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZ_RSt0KP8