- Blue Origin has stated that the founder, Jeff Bezos, will get his “astronaut wings” in space flight.
- He will cross the Carmen Line, which is an imaginary boundary into space.
- But scholars and other experts say that there is no real consensus on the starting point of space.
- View more stories on the homepage of Business Insider SA.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos will Exploded soon, Ushered in a new era of private space travel, and raised questions about who can call ourselves an astronaut.
Will paying customers be considered astronauts? Or will the term be reserved for pilots and scientists?
“We are in the early stages, so it seems that we haven’t really touched on those who are [an astronaut] Has happened,” said Phantom space CEO Jim Cantrell, he is SpaceX’s first vice president of business development.
He added: “I think this kind of thing will develop over time.”
There is also an ongoing debate about where space really started.A common boundary is Carmen Line, Located at an imaginary boundary of 100 kilometers above sea level.
“Basically, once the 100-kilometer line is crossed, the atmosphere becomes too thin to provide enough lift for ordinary aircraft to maintain flight,” said Raman Prinja, head of University College London . Department of Physics and Astronomy, Said via email.
However, when asked to define the end of the earth’s atmosphere and the beginning of space, some scholars, governments, and managers offered different heights. Some space travel companies boast that they will go to the “edge” of space, even if they fly far below the Carmen line.
At the same time, NASA stated that space begins at only 50 miles (80 kilometers) high, which means that anyone who crosses it An astronaut In the eyes of the US government.
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity Space Shuttle in May Reach 89 kilometers above sea levelAccording to NASA standards, tourists who eventually fly that high will be regarded as astronauts. But others may disagree.
Blue Origin stated that the rocket carrying Bezos and his companions will cross the Carmen Line, which the company calls an “internationally recognized space line.”
“Cross the Carmen line into space, you will win the astronaut’s wings,” Blue Origin’s website Say.
Therefore, according to the standards of Blue Origin, Bezos will become an astronaut.The same is true for anonymous bidders $28 million will be paid Get on the boat.
But Prinja and other experts said the imaginary boundary is not precise—it may change in the future.
“I have reason to be sure that there is no single convincing definition of’the edge of space’,” said Edwin L. Turner, a professor of astrophysics. Princeton University, Said via email.
International Aviation Federation Consider moving the line, May be reduced to 80 kilometers (in this case, Bezos is still an astronaut.) Turner said that this line can eventually be defined as 150 kilometers. In this case, Bezos will not become an astronaut.
Turner gave a more technical definition of the edge of space: “However, reasonable and popular [definition] An object moving at sufficient speed can complete the lowest altitude of a circular orbit of the earth without further advancement, at which the resistance associated with a very thin atmosphere will cause its orbit to attenuate and the object fall back to the earth. “
According to this definition, access to space may depend on the size or shape of the aircraft. Turner said another problem is that the changing atmosphere may effectively move this line.
Cantrell’s Phantom Space aims to mass-produce launch vehicles to send people into space. Its goal is to allow anyone to easily leave the Earth’s atmosphere, which means that anyone can become an astronaut.
Cantrell added: “What we really want to do is to make space a daily activity, not a celebration, eye-catching, and once-in-a-lifetime event.”
