A method and system for mitigating the impact of radiation induced in a data processor incorporating integrated circuits. The method comprises the steps of determining the location of the data processor, determining a set of radiation sources and intensities at that location, and estimating the soft error rate of the data processor as a function of the determined radiation intensities and geometric characteristics of said integrated circuits to provide an estimate value. The data processor is modified (either hardware or software) in response to the estimate value at times the estimate value exceeds a predetermined value.