The edge of the space is slid 12 miles closer to the Earth

Did you feel it? Do you suddenly feel a little more stuffy here? Does it seem to me, I do not know … Outer space has just come closer to 12 miles?

Nothing moves, of course (unless you count the constant and increasing expansion of the universe). But according to a new study published online this week, it might be high time for Earthmen to change our mental and mathematical ideas about where, exactly, the Earth 's atmosphere ends and where the Earth' s atmosphere ends. space begins. [Earth from Above: 101 Stunning Images from Orbit]

If astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell's calculations are correct, the cosmic frontier where the airspace laws suddenly give way to the laws of orbital space could be much closer than we think so. "The argument about where the atmosphere and the space finishes begins before the launch of the first Sputnik," writes McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in his new journal , which will appear in the October issue of the journal Acta Astronautica. "The most widely accepted limit is the so-called Karman line, currently set at 62 miles altitude."

Here is the problem: According to McDowell, this Karman line that many scientists accept today is based on decades of misinterpreted information. this does not take into account actual orbital data. Fortunately, the data is McDowell's case (and his fun – in his spare time he keeps meticulous records of every rocket launch on Earth) and he knew where to find an evidence-based answer to the question: " Where does the space begin? "

When Satellites Fall

In his new study, McDowell looked at data describing the orbital trajectories of some 43,000 satellites, which he collected from Command of Aerospace Defense of North America (NORAD). United States and Canada. Most of these satellites were negligible for McDowell's study – they were in orbit much higher than the proposed Karman line and were well within reach of the orbital space.

However, about fifty of these satellites were distinguished. Returning to the atmosphere at the end of their missions, each of these satellites has successfully completed at least two complete rotations around the Earth at altitudes below 62 miles. The Soviet Elektron-4 satellite, for example, circled the planet about 10 miles 10 times before it plummeted into the atmosphere and burned in 1997.

It seemed clear that space physics still reigned well below Karman Line. When McDowell used a mathematical model to find the exact point at which different satellites finally took off from their orbits and made a fire back in the atmosphere, he found that this could happen between 41 and 55 miles. Usually however, when a craft plunged below the 50-mile mark, there was no hope of escaping

Astronaut Wings

For this reason, McDowell chose 50 miles as the the true lower edge of the space. The number fits perfectly with several other cultural and atmospheric factors, as well. For example, McDowell wrote that in the 1950s, US Air Force pilots received a special set of "astronaut wings" to fly their planes over 50 miles, which was considered the outer edge of the atmosphere. The mesopause, the coldest belt in the earth's atmosphere, extends about 52 to 62 miles above the surface of the planet. Here, the chemical composition of the atmosphere begins to change radically and the charged particles become more abundant. (In other words, things seem much more spacier.) It is clear that, under the lower edge of the mesopause, the atmosphere of the Earth becomes a stronger force for airborne objects, wrote McDowell. [Infographic: Earth’s Atmosphere from Top to Bottom]

"It is worth noting that meteors (which travel much faster) usually decay in the range of 43 to 62 miles, adding that it is the region where the atmosphere becomes important, "writes McDowell. 19659004] So, what does it mean if the border between Earth and space is 20% lower than what is generally accepted? It will not change the way rockets are fired or any other physical interaction with space, writes McDowell, but it could raise important political and territorial issues.

The airspace over a given country is generally considered to be part of that country; On the other hand, space is for everyone. If space is defined as starting at 62 miles and the United States is flying an unauthorized satellite 52 miles above China, it could (legitimately) be interpreted as an act of military aggression .

opposing defining the limits of universal space. This means that McDowell's proposed 50-mile line is unlikely to become a legal and universally accepted boundary anytime soon. Yet, if the daily task of life on Earth begins to make you fall, look in the air – and take heart that you may be a little closer to heaven than last week.

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