Hardened electronics

Electronics in transit to, and on the surface of Mars are constantly bombarded by radiation. Hardened electronics are designed to resist the effects of this radiation.

Physical Hardening

Physical shielding, such as heavy metals or a Faraday Cage can block many types of radiation before it affects the electronics

Design Hardening

Electronics can be designed to resist radiation, to a certain degree.

Hardened Programming

Redundancy, sanity checks, and dead man switches can ensure reliability and notify operators of errors.

External Links

Expecting the Unexpected - Radiation Hardened Software (NASA)

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