Sir Richard Branson (L) of Virgin Galactic with Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin. courtesy of Getty Images Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are scheduled to launch just weeks apart, but the precise border and experience of their spaceflights has been a source of debate. Branson’s Virgin Galactic flies above 80 kilometers (approximately 262,000 feet), the height at which the United States acknowledges the space border, whereas Bezos’ Blue Origin goes above 100 kilometers (about 328,000 feet), also known as the Karman Line. Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith slammed Virgin Galactic’s approach as “a completely different experience” since “they’re not going over the Karman line” after Branson stated he planned to launch just nine days before Bezos’ previously confirmed voyage. “We are going above the astronaut line,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said simply, adding that the business is “the only commercial enterprise that has carried private astronauts” to date. Virgin Galactic’s fourth spaceflight test will take place on Sunday, according to Branson. He created the business 17 years ago, and it is currently seeking to complete development testing this year in order to begin flying space tourism passengers in early 2022. Blue Origin’s aspirations go beyond tourism; the billionaire wants to fly to the edge of space on the company’s first crewed launch, which will take place on July 20. The fact that the line where space begins is not a widely agreed-upon altitude, which astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell stressed in an interview with CNBC, is key to the two billionaires’ debate. “It’s not like the United States is one way and everyone else is the other,” McDowell said. “There’s no true international agreement.” McDowell claims that 80 kilometers is the clearest boundary of space for a variety of reasons, including the scientific measurement of the Earth’s atmosphere, gravitational physics, and historical precedent, including the fact that Hungarian-American engineer Theodore von Karman’s original line was closer to 80 than 100 kilometers. McDowell is a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer who wrote a study in 2018 that delves more into the dispute over the proposed space boundary. McDowell, a minor planet (4589), is named for him. On May 22, 2021, the spacecraft VSS Unity is freed from the carrier plane VMS Eve during its third spaceflight. Virgin Galactic is a company that specializes in space travel The distinctions between the businesses’ spacecraft are crucial to comprehending the issue. To begin with, neither Blue Origin nor Virgin Galactic travel into orbit; both spacecraft are classified as suborbital, capable of transporting humans to the edge of space for a few minutes in microgravity. An orbital mission, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, might cost tens of millions of dollars and last for days or weeks in space. The New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin takes off vertically from the ground, with a six-passenger capsule that separates from the rocket booster towards the peak of the flight. Following that, the capsule returns to Earth through a series of parachutes, with the booster landing independently so it can be launched again. A carrier aircraft releases Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo system in mid-flight, before starting its rocket engine and arching up in a climb. The spaceship returns to Earth in a glide for a runway landing after doing a leisurely backflip in microgravity. A test flight of the New Shepard rocket is underway. Origin of the color blue Each spacecraft reaches a different altitude of around 15 kilometers, or 50,000 feet. According to McDowell, the difference is around “20 percent greater” and “maybe noticeable” to passengers, but “not dramatic.” “I believe it will be quite comparable in terms of experience,” McDowell said. “What matters is that [the distinction] is somewhat arbitrary.” 100 kilometers vs. 80 kilometers “It’s actually not really right to claim the rest of the world acknowledges 100 kilometers,” McDowell said of the argument between heights of 100 and 80 kilometers. He said that the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), which keeps track of aviation records, is “the only official place” that adheres to the 100-kilometer limit, adding that “it’s not an international rule.” Nonetheless, in a tweet on Friday, Blue Origin reaffirmed its Karman line view. “Space begins 100 kilometers up for 96 percent of the world’s population,” the corporation stated. For a variety of reasons, including space weapons prohibitions and the historical precedence of early military astronauts, the United States acknowledges 80 kilometers. The Air Force awarded astronaut wings to pilots of its rocket-powered X-15 aircraft after they flew above 80 kilometers in the 1960s. In terms of weapons, McDowell said that “the United States has fought any international consensus” on the definition of space’s limit “because they don’t want space to be too precisely defined.” “Because it becomes clear that their missiles travel into space and may be subject to space law,” McDowell explained. “The fundamental concept is that if it’s not specified, the US [military] has more freedom of action.” McDowell presented physics-based justifications for 80 kilometers based on the density of the upper atmosphere on a scientific basis. His research indicated that the edge of the atmosphere “doesn’t move about very much” and has a reasonably consistent influence on spacecraft thanks to modeling. “Until looking at elliptical orbit satellites, you’ll notice that they can survive when their orbit’s closest point to the Earth is around 80 kilometers. When the temperature drops below the mid-70s, however, they simply burn up and can no longer orbit “According to McDowell. Finally, McDowell claims that Theodore von Karman “didn’t pick” 100 kilometers as the limit of space at first. His technique was also “physics-based” and “around” the mid-80 kilometer range. People who worked on Karman’s research, according to McDowell, eventually chose not to “specify it that precisely” and instead “just round it” to 100. “The Karman line has come to be associated with 100 kilometers, but that wasn’t always the case,” McDowell explained. CNBC Pro can help you become a better investor. Get stock recommendations, analyst calls, exclusive interviews, and CNBC TV access. To begin your free trial, simply fill out the form below./n
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