Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Experts try to explain the end of the world and space begins. The boundary is apparently called the Karman line, named after Theodore von Karman, a Hungarian-American physicist in 1957.
Earthsky reports, he was the first to try to define the boundary between Earth and space. The line is meant not only for the boundaries of aircraft, but also for scientists and engineers figuring out how to keep spacecraft and satellites from orbiting the Earth successfully.
“The Karman line is an approximate region that represents the altitude at which a satellite can orbit Earth without burning up or falling out of orbit before circling the Earth at least once,” said Katrina Bossert, a space physicist at Arizona State University. Live ScienceMonday (9/5/2022).
University of California Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Matthew Igel, added that the line was defined to be about 100 kilometers above Earth. However, it is not impossible that there is an orbit below that line.
“It’s possible that something orbits Earth at an altitude below the Karman line, but it would require a very high orbital velocity that would be difficult to maintain due to friction. But there’s no stopping it,” explains Igel.
“Therein lies the feeling one must have for the Karman line: It is an imaginary but practical threshold between air travel and space travel.”
Bossert explains there are various factors that determine how much air resistance. It’s like the size and shape of the satellite.
This will have an impact on the ability to orbit the Earth with a satellite. Usually satellites that are in low Earth orbit, have a flight classification with an altitude of less than 1,000 km but sometimes also about 160 km above the Earth’s surface.
The satellite, which is in low orbit, said Bossert would crash in a few years. He explained it was because “there is a tug from Earth’s upper atmosphere gradually slowing the orbital speed”.
(npb)
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