Editing Space weather (section)

===Spacecraft electronics===
[[File:ExtremeEvent 20031026-00h 20031106-24h.jpg|thumb|right|320px|GOES-11 and GOES-12 monitored space weather conditions during the [[Halloween solar storms|October 2003 solar activity]]<ref name="Extreme Space Weather Events">{{cite web | title=Extreme Space Weather Events | publisher=[[National Geophysical Data Center]] | url=http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/sxi_greatest.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011010173025/http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/sxi_greatest.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=October 10, 2001}}</ref>]]

Some spacecraft failures can be directly attributed to space weather; many more are thought to have a space weather component. For example, 46 of the 70 failures reported in 2003 occurred during the October 2003 geomagnetic storm. The two most common adverse space weather effects on spacecraft are [[radiation damage]] and [[spacecraft charging]].

Radiation (high-energy particles) passes through the skin of the spacecraft and into the electronic components. In most cases, the radiation causes an erroneous signal or changes one bit in memory of a spacecraft's electronics ([[single event upset]]s). In a few cases, the radiation destroys a section of the electronics ([[latchup|single-event latchup]]).

Spacecraft charging is the accumulation of an [[electrostatic charge]] on a nonconducting material on the spacecraft's surface by low-energy particles. If enough charge is built up, a discharge (spark) occurs. This can cause an erroneous signal to be detected and acted on by the spacecraft computer. A recent study indicated that spacecraft charging is the predominant space weather effect on spacecraft in [[geosynchronous orbit]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Choi|first=Ho-Sung |author2=J. Lee |author3=K.-S. Cho |author4=Y.-S. Kwak |author5=I.-H. Cho |author6=Y.-D. Park |author7=Y.-H. Kim |author8-link=Daniel N. Baker |author8=D. N. Baker |author9=G. D. Reeves |author10=D.-K. Lee |title=Analysis of GEO spacecraft anomalies: Space weather relationships|journal=Space Weather|year=2011|volume=9|issue=S06001|page=12|doi=10.1029/2010SW000597|s2cid=120192698 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2011SpWea...9.6001C }}</ref>