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Chips in space: Breaching the final frontier?

Semiconductors are vital to virtually every operational function on board a spacecraft: Generation, distribution, storage and regulation of on-board electrical power; positioning of the spacecraft, its antenna and solar array using several sensors; communicating with Earth and other spacecraft, and for processing and distributing data.

But space isn't hospitable. The danger to semiconductors is radiation; high-energy particles present in space easily ionize atoms, freeing electrons to create excess charge, which can produce both transient and lasting effects. Semiconductors have to be 'hardened' against radiation effects

Here's more on chips in space -- solutions using radiation hardened and assured products.