![]() The exosphere marks the very edge of our atmosphere, so why shouldn't it also mark the beginning of space? To travel beyond the reaches of Earth's atmosphere would take you about 6,000 miles (10,000 km) above Earth's surface to the top of the highest layer of Earth's atmosphere - the exosphere. But this definition would complicate things even further. An alternative definition?Ĭonsidering the controversy surrounding whether starts at around 50 miles (80 km) or 62 miles (100 km), some people ask whether it would be easier to just define space as the absolute point at which Earth's atmosphere ends. ![]() This altitude is now known as the "Kármán line" in his honor. Kármán did the necessary calculations, then rounded the answer to that memorable figure of 100 kilometers (62 miles). At what altitude does the speed need to keep an aircraft aloft through aerodynamic lift become so high that it exceeds orbital velocity? The sun's atmosphere: Photosphere, chromosphere and coronaįast forward to the middle of the 20th century, when a Hungarian-American aerospace engineer named Theodore von Kármán asked a simple question. ![]() How cold is space? Physics behind the temperature of the universe Sounds in space: What noises do planets make?
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