This passage discusses various incidents and phenomena related to cosmic rays and their impact on different systems:
- **Belgian Election Recount**: In 2003, during an election recount in Belgium, a candidate received 4,096 extra votes due to a cosmic ray flipping the 13th bit in a computer.
- **Impact on Computer Systems**: Cosmic rays can cause bit flips in computer systems, leading to errors or crashes. They are a rare but potential source of problems, even in modern computers.
- **Mario 64 Glitch**: In a video game, a cosmic ray-induced bit flip may have caused a player to perform an unusual glitch, known as the "up warp," which sped up their progress in the game.
- **Radiation Effects at High Altitudes**: Cosmic ray radiation increases at higher altitudes, including in airplanes. This elevation raises the risk of single event upsets in electronic systems.
- **Airbus A330 Incident**: In 2008, an Airbus A330 experienced a sudden dive caused by a cosmic ray-induced upset, subjecting passengers to unexpected G-forces.
Cosmic rays, consisting of high-energy particles from space, can have unexpected and sometimes disruptive effects on various technological systems and even video games.
1. An election recount was triggered due to an anomaly in the vote count for a candidate named Maria Vindevogel in an election held in Belgium on May 18th, 2003 .
2. The voting system used in Belgium involved a computer system and a magnetic card for redundancy. The voters would insert the magnetic card into the machine and make their selection on screen .
3. The election officials detected a problem with the results from Schaerbeek, a municipality in central Brussels, where Maria Vindevogel received more votes than was mathematically possible .
4. The recount process involved feeding each magnetic card through the machines again and after several hours, the recount was complete .
5. The recounted number of votes for Maria Vindevogel was less than the original by 4,096 .
6. The 13th bit had to flip from a zero to a one for Maria Vindevogel to receive an extra 4,096 votes .
7. The 4,096 votes is a power of two (2^12), and the 13th bit flip could have been caused by a single high energy particle from space .
8. This anomaly was not caused by natural radioactivity in the computer .
9. The high energy particles from space are known as cosmic rays and are composed of protons, helium nuclei, and heavier nuclei .
10. These cosmic rays can interact with the components of a computer, causing a bit flip .
11. The incident with Maria Vindevogel is not an isolated case; cosmic rays can trigger bit flips all the time .
12. Cosmic rays have been implicated in crashes of supercomputers, especially at higher elevations. For instance, Los Alamos National Labs located 2200 meters above sea level routinely deals with neutron induced supercomputer crashes .
13. In 2008, an Airbus A330 flight experienced a sudden dive due to a likely bit flip in the first 8 bits of a 32 bit binary word, causing the altitude information to be mislabeled as angle of attack information .
14. The Airbus A330 was built in 1992, before there were specific regulatory or aircraft manufacturer requirements for airborne systems to be resilient to single event effects .
15. The computer on the Perseverance Rover that landed on Mars is 20 years old and is radiation hardened, meaning the design, materials, circuits, and software are built to withstand 40 times the radiation of an ordinary computer .
16. The Perseverance Rover experienced an increase in the flux of cosmic rays as it departed the solar system .
17. The heliosphere, a protective bubble around the sun, helps deflect and slow cosmic rays from interstellar space, protecting the solar system from ionizing radiation .
18. The flux of cosmic rays on earth is much lower when the sun is active than when it's dormant .
19. Cosmic rays may have played a significant role in the genetic codes of living organisms, providing some of the variation on which natural selection acts .
20. Maria Vindevogel, the candidate involved in the Belgium election incident, is now a member of the Belgium Chamber of Representatives .