The company says solar radiation caused the equipment malfunction, but space weather experts suggest a more likely culprit is cosmic rays produced from some far-flung supernova. Instead, Dyer thinks another invisible reason may be to blame: cosmic rays. “[Cosmic rays] can interact with modern microelectronics and change the state of a circuit,” Dyer told Space.com. After testing and re-testing the voting system, the error wasn’t reproducible, suggesting that perhaps cosmic rays were the culprit. According to the Oxford Scientist, exposure to cosmic rays increases 100-fold at cruising altitude (compared to sea level).