Re:The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight
by bee_rider on Thursday September 02, 2021 @09:18AM
(#28391662)
Orbit can occur at any distance from Earth if you are the right speed I guess -- although below a handful of fingers you'll get significant drag from the atmosphere. Since the atmosphere doesn't just suddenly cut off at some point, it is a matter of degrees. But for example, the ISS orbits around 400km and needs to be boosted a 'few times a year.'
(The Karman line is around 100km, so if we want to use 500ish km as the threshold for reasonable orbits, we really are in the ballpark of a hand's worth of fingers).
The altitude isn't really the point, so much as the trajectory -- if they miss the ground at least once I say we give them a round of applause.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit#Examples
(The Karman line is around 100km, so if we want to use 500ish km as the threshold for reasonable orbits, we really are in the ballpark of a hand's worth of fingers).
The altitude isn't really the point, so much as the trajectory -- if they miss the ground at least once I say we give them a round of applause.