Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Edge of Space Found

Friday, April 10, 2009

Edge of Space Found

Earth in background, space station spacewalk above atmosphere (NASA)

"Scientists have finally pinpointed the so-called edge of space" — April 9, 2009 story below.

From a Buddhist perspective, space (akasha) is "boundless." That may not mean it's "infinite" however. These things are undeclared. And whether they are knowable or not, they do not conduce to dispassion, enlightenment, and liberation from suffering.

Far from being agnostic on the point, the Buddha pointed out the way to directly perceiving space. The commentaries (namely the Path of Purification) define space and the limits of space. Yet, these are tangible. Space is synonymous with sky, which ranges out in all directions. It is bounded by matter. It is the realm of akasha devas ("shining ones," extraterrestrials who dwell in the sky in spacecrafts, called vimanas, and beings inhabiting other planets).

Outer- and hyper-space, as understood in modern parlance, are directly visible to those who attain the purifying meditative "absorption" (fifth jhana) known as the base of unbounded space. Rather than setting down dogma or attempting to answer an endless litany of philosophical inquiries about it, the Buddha taught the way to experience this knowledge and vision directly. In the absence of any way of making this subjective (something we can experience ourselves), objective-science sets about to show (or deduce) it indirectly. Today is has found the "edge" of space. Unfortunately, this is not the far more interesting outer space but rather the visible sky above earth known as the Realm of Sky Beings (Pali, akasa-deva-loka).

Andrea Thompson (Space.com, 4/9/09)

Hold on to your hats, or in this case, your helmets: Scientists have finally pinpointed the so-called edge of space — the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.

With data from a new instrument developed by scientists at the University of Calgary, scientists confirmed that space begins 73 miles (118 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

A lot remains very fuzzy, however, as the boundary is surrounded by a host of misconceptions and confusing, conflicting definitions.

For starters, astronauts can say they've been to space after only passing the 50-mile (80-kilometer) mark.

Stepping out of International Space Station (NASA)

Meanwhile the boundary recognized by many in the space industry is also a somewhat arbitrary 62 miles (100 kilometers). Scientist Theodore von Kármán long ago calculated that at this altitude the atmosphere is so thin that it's negligible, and conventional aircraft can no longer function because they can't go fast enough to get any kind of aerodynamic lift. This 62-mile boundary is accepted by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), which sets aeronautical standards.

The United States, however, has never officially adopted a set boundary standard because it would complicate the issue of overflight rights of satellites and other orbiting bodies, according to NASA.

NASA's mission control uses 76 miles (122 kilometers) as their re-entry altitude because that's where the shuttle switches from steering with thrusters to maneuvering with air surfaces, NASA states. Others point out that the "Now Entering Space" sign should be posted way out at 13 million miles (21 million kilometers) because that's the boundary where Earth's gravity is no longer dominant.

(While astronauts experience weightlessness in space, this isn't because there's no gravity there, it's due to the balance of forces acting on them as they orbit.)

In the new study, an instrument called the Supra-Thermal Ion Imager detected the boundary by tracking the relatively gentle winds of Earth's atmosphere and the more violent flows of charged particles in space, which can reach speeds well over 600 mph (1,000 kph).

The ability to gather data in that area is significant because it's very difficult to make measurements in this region, which is too high for balloons and too low for satellites.

"It's only the second time that direct measurements of charged particle flows have been made in this region, and the first time all the ingredients – such as the upper atmospheric winds – have been included," says project scientist David Knudsen of the University of Calgary.

The instrument was carried by the JOULE-II rocket on Jan. 19, 2007. It traveled to an altitude of about 124 miles (200 kilometers) above sea level and collected data for the five minutes it was moving through the "edge of space."

The finding, detailed in the Journal of Geophysical Research on April 7, could aid the study of space weather and its impacts on Earth.

The data "allows us to calculate energy flows into the Earth's atmosphere that ultimately may be able to help us understand the interaction between space and our environment," Knudsen said. "That could mean a greater understanding of the link between sunspots and the warming and cooling of the Earth's climate as well as how space weather impacts satellites, communications, navigation, and power systems."