Re: About a billion years ago in internet time (call it 1986) ...
"I do remember reading in a "how to repair PC" type book about RAM errors caused by cosmic particles."
I remember seeing that several times back in the 90's as well. If memory serves (heh), they all said the useful lifetime of most RAM was 10,000 years, by which time cosmic rays would have caused too much damage to the crystalline structure of the memory for it to still be reliable. I guess any deep space probes would be subject to this, mostly because they'll be the only things to survive for 10,000 years.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
