agreed. but the radiation in low-earth orbit, at least at the altitude they seemed to have shot the phones, is usually not intense enough to destroy commercial

agreed. but the radiation in low-earth orbit, at least at the altitude they seemed to have shot the phones, is usually not intense enough to destroy commercial electronic devices (instantly). we just finished a radiation susceptibility test for a commercial IC supposed to fly on a satellite in low-earth orbit (which you can find in a lot of consumer electronic products): no serious performance degeneration occured while exposed to a much higher total dose than expected during the lifetime of the satellite. EDIT: if you're interested in the effects of radiation on electronic devices/components in low-earth orbit, check [0]. [0] http://klabs.org/DEI/References/design_guidelines/design_series/1258jsc.pdf http://klabs.org/DEI/References/design_guidelines/design_ser... [pdf]