[AR] Re: Just where does space start?
- From: Dave McMillan <skyefire@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 18:53:33 -0400
On 8/31/2014 3:23 PM, Paul Mueller wrote:
I did a little searching on wikipedia and it seems the 100 km number
does have a mathematical basis derived by Theodore von Karman (more
than just a round number in the vicinity of where the atmosphere gets
really thin): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line (that
URL has funny characters because of the accents over the "a"s in Karman).
It is the number used by the generally accepted governing body for
aeronautical and astronautical records, the Federation Aeronautique
Internationale (FAI). The only one who use 50 miles is the US Air
Force, from the days of awarding Astronaut wings to X-15 pilots who
flew that high.
The mouseover text is relevant: http://xkcd.com/1375/
Other related posts:
