Distance from earth to near space. Aerospace laboratory. “Near” space is more profitable than distant space

Borders

There is no clear boundary, because the atmosphere thins out gradually as it moves away from the earth's surface, and there is still no consensus on what is considered a factor in the beginning of space. If the temperature were constant, then the pressure would change exponentially from 100 kPa at sea level to zero. The International Aeronautical Federation has established an altitude of 100 km(Karman line), because at this altitude, in order to create a lifting aerodynamic force, it is necessary for the aircraft to move at escape velocity, which is why the meaning of air flight is lost.

solar system

NASA describes a case where a person accidentally found himself in a space close to a vacuum (pressure below 1 Pa) due to an air leak from a spacesuit. The person remained conscious for approximately 14 seconds - approximately the time required for oxygen-depleted blood to move from the lungs to the brain. There was no complete vacuum inside the suit, and recompression of the test chamber began after approximately 15 seconds. Consciousness returned to the person when the pressure rose to an altitude equivalent to approximately 4.6 km. The man trapped in the vacuum later reported that he felt and heard air escaping from him, and his last conscious memory was that he felt the water boiling on his tongue.

Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine published a letter on February 13, 1995, which described an incident that occurred on August 16, 1960, during the rise of a stratospheric balloon with an open gondola to an altitude of 19.5 miles to make a record parachute jump (Project Excelsior "). The pilot's right hand was depressurized, but he decided to continue the ascent. The hand, as might be expected, was extremely painful and could not be used. However, when the pilot returned to denser layers of the atmosphere, the condition of the hand returned to normal.

Boundaries on the way to space

• Sea level - 101.3 kPa (1 atm.; 760 mm Hg;) atmospheric pressure.
• 4.7 km - MFA requires additional oxygen supply for pilots and passengers.
• 5.0 km - 50% of atmospheric pressure at sea level.
• 5.3 km - half of the total mass of the atmosphere lies below this height.
• 6 km is the border of permanent human habitation.
• 7 km is the limit of adaptability to a long stay.
• 8.2 km is the border of death.
• 8,848 km - the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest - the limit of accessibility on foot.
• 9 km is the limit of adaptability to short-term breathing of atmospheric air.
• 12 km - breathing air is equivalent to being in space (the same time of loss of consciousness ~ 10-20 s); limit of short-term breathing with pure oxygen; ceiling of subsonic passenger airliners.
• 15 km - breathing pure oxygen is equivalent to being in space.
• 16 km - when you are in a high-altitude suit in the cabin, you need additional pressure. 10% of the atmosphere remains overhead.
• 10-18 km - the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere at different latitudes (tropopause).
• 19 km - the brightness of the dark purple sky at the zenith is 5% of the brightness of the clear blue sky at sea level (74.3-75 versus 1500 candles per m²), during the day the brightest stars and planets can be visible.
• 19.3 km - the beginning of space for the human body- boiling water at human body temperature. Internal bodily fluids at this altitude do not yet boil, since the body generates enough internal pressure to prevent this effect, but saliva and tears may begin to boil, forming foam, and swelling of the eyes.
• 20 km - upper limit of the biosphere: limit for the rise of spores and bacteria into the atmosphere by air currents.
• 20 km - the intensity of primary cosmic radiation begins to prevail over secondary radiation (born in the atmosphere).
• 20 km - the ceiling of hot air balloons (19,811 m).
• 25 km - during the day you can navigate by the bright stars.
• 25-26 km is the maximum steady flight altitude of existing jet aircraft (service ceiling).
• 15-30 km - ozone layer at different latitudes.
• 34.668 km - altitude record for a hot air balloon (stratostat) controlled by two stratonauts.
• 35 km - the beginning of space for water or triple point of water: at this altitude water boils at 0 °C, and above it cannot exist in liquid form.
• 37.65 km is the altitude record for existing turbojet aircraft (dynamic ceiling).
• 38.48 km (52,000 steps) - upper limit of the atmosphere in the 11th century: the first scientific determination of the height of the atmosphere by the duration of twilight (Arabic scientist Alhazen, 965-1039).
• 39 km - altitude record for a human-controlled stratospheric balloon (Red Bull Stratos).
• 45 km is the theoretical limit for a ramjet aircraft.
• 48 km - the atmosphere does not weaken the ultraviolet rays of the Sun.
• 50 km is the boundary between the stratosphere and mesosphere (stratopause).
• 51.82 km is an altitude record for a gas unmanned balloon.
• 55 km - the atmosphere does not affect cosmic radiation.
• 70 km - upper limit of the atmosphere in 1714 according to calculations by Edmund Holley (Halley) based on data from climbers, Boyle’s law and observations of meteors.
• 80 km is the boundary between the mesosphere and thermosphere (mesopause).
• 80.45 km (50 miles) - official height of the US space boundary.
• 100 km - official international boundary between the atmosphere and space- Karman line, defining the boundary between aeronautics and astronautics. Aerodynamic surfaces (wings) starting from this altitude do not make sense, since the flight speed to create lift becomes higher than the first escape velocity and the atmospheric aircraft becomes a space satellite.
• 100 km - recorded boundary of the atmosphere in 1902: discovery of the Kennelly-Heaviside ionized layer 90-120 km reflecting radio waves.
• 118 km - transition from atmospheric wind to streams of charged particles.
• 122 km (400,000 ft) - the first noticeable manifestations of the atmosphere during the return to Earth from orbit: the incoming air begins to turn the Space Shuttle nose in the direction of travel.
• 120-130 km - a satellite in a circular orbit with such an altitude can make no more than one revolution.
• 200 km is the lowest possible orbit with short-term stability (up to several days).
• 320 km - recorded boundary of the atmosphere in 1927: Discovery of Appleton's radio wave reflective layer.
• 350 km is the lowest possible orbit with long-term stability (up to several years).
• 690 km is the boundary between the thermosphere and exosphere.
• 1000-1100 km - the maximum height of the auroras, the last manifestation of the atmosphere visible from the Earth's surface (but usually clearly visible auroras occur at altitudes of 90-400 km).
• 2000 km - the atmosphere does not affect the satellites and they can exist in orbit for many millennia.
• 36,000 km was considered the theoretical limit of the existence of the atmosphere in the first half of the 20th century. If the entire atmosphere rotated uniformly along with the Earth, then from this height at the equator the centrifugal force of rotation would exceed gravity and air particles that went beyond this boundary would fly apart in different directions.
• 930,000 km is the radius of the Earth’s gravitational sphere and the maximum altitude for the existence of its satellites. Above 930,000 km, the Sun's gravity begins to prevail and it will pull bodies that rise above.
• 21 million km - at this distance the gravitational influence of the Earth practically disappears.
• Several tens of billions of km are the range limits of the solar wind.
• 15-20 trillion km are the gravitational boundaries of the solar system, the maximum range of existence of planets.

Conditions for entering Earth orbit

In order to enter orbit, a body must reach a certain speed. Space speeds for Earth:

• First escape speed - 7.910 km/s
• Second escape velocity - 11.168 km/s
• Third escape velocity - 16.67 km/s
• The fourth escape speed is about 550 km/s

If any of the speeds is less than indicated, then the body will not be able to enter orbit. The first person to understand that to achieve such speeds using any chemical fuel requires a multi-stage liquid-fueled rocket was Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky.

see also

Links

• Gallery of photographs taken with the Hubble telescope (English)

Notes

The totality of everything that physically exists

In technology

• Cosmos (KA) - a series of artificial Earth satellites launched in the USSR from March 16, 1962 to study outer space, solve technical problems, and test spacecraft systems
• Cosmos (launch rocket) - two-stage launch vehicles developed in the USSR for launching artificial Earth satellites “Cosmos”

In art

Organizations with the word “Space” in their name

• Cosmos (hotel) - hotels with the same name in Russia and other countries
• Kosmos-Zoloto - chain of jewelry stores
• Kosmos-TV - satellite television operator
• Cosmos (financial group) - financial group in Ukraine
• Cosmos (cinema, Moscow)
• Kosmos (bank) - commercial bank in Moscow
• Space (museum) - a museum in the Yaroslavl region dedicated to Valentina Tereshkova
• Cosmos (cinema and concert theater, Yekaterinburg) - cinema in Yekaterinburg
• TM Cosmos - manufacturer of lamps, batteries, flashlights, etc. under the Cosmos brand
• Cinema Cosmos - Cinema in the city of Kansk

• California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) - California state summer school for mathematics and science
• Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS) - consortium of strong motion observation organizations

Sport

• New York Cosmos - former soccer team based in New York City
• Yomo Cosmos are a football team based in Johannesburg

Other

• Cosmos is a railway station on the Domodedovo-Airport branch of the Paveletsky direction of the Moscow Railway.
• Cosmos (Greek) κόσμος , space) - title of the supreme rulers of ancient Crete
• Space is one of the international artificial languages

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Near space” is in other dictionaries:

near space- artimasis kosmosas statusas T sritis radioelektronika atitikmenys: engl. near space; near Earth space vok. Nahkosmos, m; Nahweltraum, m rus. near space, m; near-Earth space, m pranc. cosmos proche, m; espace proche de la Terre, m... Radioelektronikos terminų žodynas

Modern encyclopedia

- (Greek kosmos) synonym for the astronomical definition of the Universe; often distinguished as so-called near space, explored with the help of artificial Earth satellites, spacecraft and interplanetary stations, and deep space, the world of stars and galaxies... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

SPACE (Greek kosmos), synonymous with the astronomical definition of the Universe; often distinguished as so-called near space, explored with the help of artificial Earth satellites, spacecraft and interplanetary stations, and deep space, the world of stars and galaxies... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Greek kosmos), in ancient Greek philosophy the term was used to designate the world as a structural, organized and orderly whole. Currently used as a synonym for the astronomical definition of the Universe. Distinguish between near... ... Ecological dictionary

Space- (Greek kosmos system, order, world, Universe), initially among the ancient Greeks the Universe was a harmonious, organized system, as opposed to chaos, a disorderly accumulation of matter. In the modern understanding, the term space has... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

space- ▲ space Universe space space Universe; global environment of celestial bodies (near #. far #. space exploration). macrocosm. , cosmic (# rays). near space. ↓ sky, world catastrophe... Ideographic Dictionary of the Russian Language

SPACE- (from the Greek kosmos decoration, order, peace) a synonym for the astronomical definition of the Universe; often distinguished as so-called near space, explored with the help of artificial Earth satellites, and deep space, the world of stars and galaxies. Just 100 years ago,... ... Large current political encyclopedia

space- a, only units, m. Astronomical definition of the Universe. A space flight. Space exploration. Synonyms: macroco/smos (special), universe/nie (book) Related words: cosmodro/m, cosmona/w… Popular dictionary of the Russian language

A; m. [Greek cosmos universe]. Space exploration. Flights into the space. Go out into the open space (outside the spacecraft). ◁ Space (see). * * * cosmos (Greek kósmos), synonymous with the astronomical definition of the Universe; often isolated... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Cadet, Arkhipov Andrey Mikhailovich. Near space as a concentration of interests of earthly empires - and an ordinary guy in the interweaving of events. And also biorobots, neural networks, resource extraction, wars... It’s difficult to survive among this and...

The totality of everything that physically exists

In technology

• Cosmos (KA) - a series of artificial Earth satellites launched in the USSR from March 16, 1962 to study outer space, solve technical problems, and test spacecraft systems
• Cosmos (launch rocket) - two-stage launch vehicles developed in the USSR for launching artificial Earth satellites “Cosmos”

In art

Organizations with the word “Space” in their name

• Cosmos (hotel) - hotels with the same name in Russia and other countries
• Kosmos-Zoloto - chain of jewelry stores
• Kosmos-TV - satellite television operator
• Cosmos (financial group) - financial group in Ukraine
• Cosmos (cinema, Moscow)
• Kosmos (bank) - commercial bank in Moscow
• Space (museum) - a museum in the Yaroslavl region dedicated to Valentina Tereshkova
• Cosmos (cinema and concert theater, Yekaterinburg) - cinema in Yekaterinburg
• TM Cosmos - manufacturer of lamps, batteries, flashlights, etc. under the Cosmos brand
• Cinema Cosmos - Cinema in the city of Kansk

• California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) - California state summer school for mathematics and science
• Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS) - consortium of strong motion observation organizations

Sport

• New York Cosmos - former soccer team based in New York City
• Yomo Cosmos are a football team based in Johannesburg

Other

• Cosmos is a railway station on the Domodedovo-Airport branch of the Paveletsky direction of the Moscow Railway.
• Cosmos (Greek) κόσμος , space) - title of the supreme rulers of ancient Crete
• Space is one of the international artificial languages

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

• Nearest galaxies
• Near East

See what “Near space” is in other dictionaries:

near space- artimasis kosmosas statusas T sritis radioelektronika atitikmenys: engl. near space; near Earth space vok. Nahkosmos, m; Nahweltraum, m rus. near space, m; near-Earth space, m pranc. cosmos proche, m; espace proche de la Terre, m... Radioelektronikos terminų žodynas

SPACE Modern encyclopedia

SPACE- (Greek kosmos) synonym for the astronomical definition of the Universe; often distinguished as so-called near space, explored with the help of artificial Earth satellites, spacecraft and interplanetary stations, and deep space, the world of stars and galaxies... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

COSMOS (Universe)- SPACE (Greek kosmos), synonymous with the astronomical definition of the Universe; often distinguished as so-called near space, explored with the help of artificial Earth satellites, spacecraft and interplanetary stations, and deep space, the world of stars and galaxies... encyclopedic Dictionary

SPACE- (Greek kosmos), in ancient Greek philosophy the term was used to designate the world as a structural, organized and orderly whole. Currently used as a synonym for the astronomical definition of the Universe. Distinguish between near... ... Ecological dictionary

Space- (Greek kosmos system, order, world, Universe), initially among the ancient Greeks the Universe was a harmonious, organized system, as opposed to chaos, a disorderly accumulation of matter. In the modern understanding, the term space has... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

space- ▲ space Universe space space Universe; global environment of celestial bodies (near #. far #. space exploration). macrocosm. , cosmic (# rays). near space. ↓ sky, world catastrophe... Ideographic Dictionary of the Russian Language

SPACE- (from the Greek kosmos decoration, order, peace) a synonym for the astronomical definition of the Universe; often distinguished as so-called near space, explored with the help of artificial Earth satellites, and deep space, the world of stars and galaxies. Just 100 years ago,... ... Large current political encyclopedia

space- a, only units, m. Astronomical definition of the Universe. A space flight. Space exploration. Synonyms: macroco/smos (special), universe/nie (book) Related words: cosmodro/m, cosmona/w… Popular dictionary of the Russian language

space- a; m. [Greek cosmos universe]. Space exploration. Flights into the space. Go out into the open space (outside the spacecraft). ◁ Space (see). * * * cosmos (Greek kósmos), synonymous with the astronomical definition of the Universe; often isolated... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Cadet, Arkhipov Andrey Mikhailovich. Near space as a concentration of interests of earthly empires - and an ordinary guy in the interweaving of events. And also biorobots, neural networks, resource extraction, wars... It’s difficult to survive among this and...

As is known, six decades have passed since the launch of the first satellite. At the moment, scientists are coming to the conclusion that it is cheaper and safer to explore the stratosphere rather than space.

Today, thousands of devices fly in orbit, such as communications satellites, space observatories, probes for various purposes, and others. At first glance, the space sector is making great progress, but everything is not as simple as journalist Igor Tirsky claims.

Are there prospects in space exploration?

Businessmen have recently become interested in the space theme, as they have discovered the possibility of private space exploration, the colonization of Mars and the Moon, and the processing of asteroids. In the near future, entrepreneurs will be able to provide offers to all volunteers to make suborbital flights at an altitude of approximately 100 km. above the planet, and this is almost space.

Thus, people who are very far from this have also become interested in space, such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Paul Allen, Vladislav Filev and Jeff Bezos, who are entrepreneurs from the West.

In the future, a certain boom in space tourism is expected, the launching of thousands of satellites into orbit in order to distribute Internet connections, as well as the construction of bases on Mars and the Moon led by private companies and the movement of millions of tourists to new places.

This is not a joke, because such thoughts are part of the actual plans of entrepreneurs in the field of private space. For example, Elon Musk, who is the head of SpaceX, makes promises to send a million people to Mars.

It is likely that in the foreseeable future, the near-Earth space will gradually be occupied by humanity. We will take root there thoroughly. At the same time, there will be a sharp increase in the number of functioning spacecraft in Earth orbit.

Another scenario

Space is very complex and expensive, and studying it takes a lot of time, so few people are interested in the business prospects for its exploration. At the moment, all services in this area are available only to the state and large private organizations, which also enjoy state support. Even for these organizations, investing in space is highly risky. After all, in orbit, vehicle failures, explosions of launch vehicles, etc. are quite possible. Of course, space technology is insured, and this insurance can cover all kinds of expenses, however, creating another device will require a colossal amount of time.

Even in the case of successful launch of devices into orbit, contributions may, so to speak, “not be recovered,” and technologies tend to become obsolete. For example, there are satellites such as Iridium, which provide space communications via satellite phone anywhere on Earth. The first call in this system was made in 1997, but the technology was conceived ten years ago, in 1987, and then few people knew about cellular communications.

Today we see that the Internet has turned out to be a simpler and cheaper solution in this regard. And cell towers are built this way in many countries. "LTE" is no longer as outlandish as it used to be. Today you can be more surprised by a person with a satellite phone. Thus, “Iridium” turned out to be not in demand among the masses, because there is cellular communication, and besides, there are satellite services from other providers that cost much less than the technology described above. Iridium still exists today, but they cannot withstand the competition, because other providers offer the same technologies at a lower cost.

A similar thing is happening now, only with regard to the World Wide Web, because OneWeb and SpaceX intend to launch thousands of artificial earth satellites equipped with antennas for distributing the Internet throughout the Earth.

In other words, any inhabitant of the planet will have the opportunity to use high-speed satellite Internet at a very reasonable cost or completely free of charge, which depends on the monetization model. But this is relevant for modern people, because despite the development of technology, approximately half of the planet’s population still cannot use the Internet.

The same situation arose with Motorola when it launched Iridium. After all, in the late 80s we didn’t even dream of such a scale of mobile communications as it is now, and the company already set intentions to cover the whole world with its network. Nowadays, cellular communications are available even in remote corners of the planet, but the quality of the Internet is still poor, which is why the above-mentioned companies want to tackle this problem.

Satellite Internet seems to be a very good alternative to cellular or cable. It is not as expensive as it might seem at first glance when it comes to one-way access. After all, here you only need to have a simple antenna and relatively cheap equipment for receiving the signal. For the outgoing channel, technologies such as ADSL, GPRS, 3G, etc. are used here. But in those territories where there is no terrestrial connection, the situation is more complicated, so there it is necessary to introduce a duplex rather than a simplex (one-way) network. In this case, the terminal operates simultaneously in the mode of a transmitting and receiving device, but this option will be more expensive.

Currently, satellite and cellular companies are in competition with fiber optic cable, because this technology is not yet widespread everywhere. However, everything is heading towards the fact that the planet will be surrounded by cable, and in this case, space networks will not be useful to us.

Therefore, the question arises about the profitability in the future of such communication systems as those that SpaceX and OneWeb are planning to implement.

Probably, the need for the Internet via satellites will only be in India, Africa and other hard-to-reach places where it is not possible to lay a cable or build many LTE towers. This raises the question of whether the cost of such technologies will be acceptable and whether the authorities will allow it to be implemented. Therefore, it seems that satellite Internet will remain uncontested for a long time, but the situation may change a lot.

Drones and stratospheric balloons - an alternative to rockets and satellites

Satellites are used not only for the purpose of delivering the Internet, but also for the so-called remote sensing of the planet, in other words, for capturing the surface in photographs and transmitting data. However, we can now see the development of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles designed for sensing. After all, they are cheap, have the ability to be mobile, can be serviced on the ground, and can also be controlled manually.

So the question arises, why do we need a satellite in orbit if there are drones that are not afraid of clouds, because they can simply descend under them and problems will be eliminated. You can also increase the image resolution by lowering the position. Drones are also capable of circling over the same area for a long time and collecting data there in real time. All of the above-mentioned abilities are very cheap compared to a satellite system, because when operating a satellite system, hundreds of devices are needed to make it possible to carry out a sightseeing trip over the area. This will all cost billions of dollars. Significant difference, isn't it?

Many people think that space observatories cannot be replaced. This was not the case, because there are projects such as “VLT”, “E-ELT”, which is a huge telescope, and “SOFIA”, which is an observatory on an airplane. This is a completely worthy alternative, but not for all wavelength ranges. In this case, stratospheric balloons capable of rising to heights of approximately 40-50 km will help. above the earth's surface and carry large loads, for example, an observatory. As an advantage, we can note that they do not have problems with microgravity. When moving such devices, there is no high load, which is usually taken into account in launch vehicles, increasing the mass and significantly limiting the possibility of all kinds of improvements. Such devices can be serviced at any time, even during operation, because you can simply fly up to it in another balloon or lower it to the ground for repairs.

Back in 1961, they initiated a project for a stratospheric solar station with a mirror-type telescope called “Saturn”. The diameter of the main mirror there was 50 cm. In 1973, images of the Sun were already taken using a modernized device with a meter-long mirror from a height of 20 km. above the earth's surface.

They say that the heights are from 20 to 100 km. are considered “near space” due to their similarity to real space. It is no longer possible for a person to be there without a protective suit, and the view from the window is approximately the same as in orbit, only you cannot see the satellites, and the sky is dark purple and black-linden in color, although at first glance it is black in contrast with the bright star and the surface of the Earth.

Real space is already above 100 km. There, for sufficient lifting force, it is necessary to have a speed higher than the first cosmic speed. This is no longer an airplane, but a satellite. In practice, the difference here is in the method of delivery: flights into real space are carried out on rockets, and in near space - on stratospheric balloons.

Strato balloons are technologies forgotten by everyone from the distant 30s of the 20th century. They are not airships filled with hydrogen and exploding from any spark. They are more like helium balloons, which are capable of rising into near space up to 50 km. There are projects of launchostats operating at an altitude of 80 km, but it would be more correct to call them suborbital satellites. These options are intended for the military; for civilians, the models are not capable of rising above 50 km. But also 50 km. enough to solve more problems.

Stratostats have ceased to be relevant since the beginning of the space age in 1957, that is, with the launch of the first satellite. However, 60 years have passed, and for some reason they were remembered. Surely, people are talking about them now because of their cheapness in comparison with satellites, because not every country has access to satellite technologies and a full-fledged space program, and many people have the opportunity to study the stratosphere. The point is not only in cheapness, but also in the features of the technologies themselves, which allow the devices to remain in the sky for hundreds of days.

After all, during the day, stratospheric balloons are powered by solar panels, and their powerful batteries store energy at night, while they are very light in weight. The design of the device is quite light and durable. GPS gives them the ability to easily determine their position, and on-board computers are capable of making independent decisions.

It is precisely the complex of all kinds of modern technologies that makes it possible to talk about the demand for stratospheric services in the market.

For example, the WorldView company has plans to launch tourists to altitudes of up to 45 km, for which a new gondola was invented, equipped with huge windows, from where tourists will be able to observe the blackness of the daytime sky and the surface of the Earth, one might say, as astronauts see it.

“Near” space is more profitable than distant space

In this case, only navigation such as GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo will be left in real space. However, this problem can be solved without the use of expensive satellite technologies - through stratospheric balloons, drones and other means. In addition, LTE and Wi-Fi are currently acting as good alternatives to GPS. LBS navigates well and determines location based on cell towers and Wi-Fi. Only it loses exactly, because the error here is tens of meters, while “GPS” has less than a meter.

Thus, “Near space” or the stratosphere in the near future is quite capable of taking the main place in the scientific field, outperforming near-Earth orbit due to its attractive conditions.

Send stratospheric balloons equipped with special equipment and even an entire laboratory, together with people on board, to altitudes of up to 50 km. will become more and more frequent, so that it will become normal. In this case, it will not even be necessary to provide stratonauts with protection from radiation, solar storms, space debris, etc. In the future, we may even stop focusing on space and turn our attention to the atmosphere, since it seems much cheaper to create drones and stratospheric balloons. In this case, it will not even be necessary to provide such a protection and life support system as would be necessary in earth orbit.

As for national economic tasks, such as communications, sounding, scientific experiments, astronomy, here stratospheric balloons act as very strong competitors to satellites, because people will create much cheaper versions of the devices. Such devices will be capable of making independent decisions in terms of where to move and how to group. This is already being developed within the framework of a project called “Google Loon”, which gives the opportunity to hard-to-reach regions to use Internet technologies. Such devices are also called models controlled by a neural network. It is also worth talking here about autonomous drones that can stay in the atmosphere for many days.

Stratostats are capable of continuous observation of the same area of ​​the planet. Such devices are also geostationary. It is known that there are no strong winds and low turbulence in the stratosphere, so the stratospheric balloon is quite capable of hovering over one point, like a satellite. But to deliver a satellite to geostationary orbit, which is 36 thousand km. above the earth's surface, a powerful launch vehicle is used, but in the case of delivery of a stratospheric balloon, helium cylinders, a little funding, and that's all. Thus, stratospheric balloons are quite competitive with conventional communication and sensing technologies.

Thus, as stratospheric science develops, expensive probes and conventional communication technologies will be abandoned. Also, stratospheric balloons can serve as an excellent tool for launching the same satellites from the stratosphere. So simply the technology for delivering satellites into orbit will change. After all, the company “Zero 2 Infinity” is working in this promising direction. The stratospheric balloon will serve as a cosmodrome or a platform for launching a satellite into real space. Even if investors do not properly support this project, the direction in terms of development of the stratosphere is still clearly marked.

A large number of stratospheric balloons in our atmosphere are capable of creating a kind of global communication system, similar to that formed through computers at home.

Consequently, we will be able to receive data from the probes directly to our personal devices, better know the weather, connect to an Internet connection with minimal signal delay even in hard-to-reach places on Earth, communicate through such devices in a decentralized manner, etc.

That is, any information received from the stratospheric balloon will be processed much more accurately and quickly than data from orbit. Thus, the philosophy of the so-called decentralized Internet should extend to other areas, and the technologies described above, such as stratospheric balloons and drones, are ideal for building such a model of the world.

Conclusion

Consequently, we can talk about a new era of technology development, where the cheapest options will be used both for organizations involved in the space sector and for ordinary people using the Internet and other means of communication. The exploration of near space is a very interesting prospect, because in this case everyone will have access to the study of the stratosphere, people will be able to explore the Earth from an altitude of 50 km. from its surface. This, of course, will open up cheap and accessible opportunities for all humanity in space exploration, albeit nearby ones. This is an expansion of space for traveling around the Earth at enormous altitudes. Therefore, the possibility of switching from satellite technologies to stratospheric balloons and similar devices is now being considered. In addition, this will also expand the capabilities of the Internet and make it cheaper and more accessible even to residents of the most remote corners of the planet. So all that remains is to wait for the implementation of such projects from leading space companies.

Everyone has traveled at some point, spending a specific amount of time to complete the journey. How endless the road seemed when it was measured in days. From the capital of Russia to the Far East – seven days by train! What if we use this transport to cover distances in space? To get to Alpha Centauri by train it will take only 20 million years. No, it’s better to go by plane - it’s five times faster. And this is up to the star nearby. Of course, nearby - this is by stellar standards.

Distance to the Sun

We now know that the distance from the earth to the Sun is 149,597,870,691 meters. This value is called the astronomical unit, and it is the basis for determining cosmic distances using the stellar parallax method.

Long-term observations have also shown that the Earth moves away from the Sun by about 15 meters every 100 years.

Distances to nearest objects

We don't think much about distance when we watch live broadcasts from the far corners of the globe. The television signal reaches us almost instantly. Even from our satellite, radio waves reach us in just over a second. But as soon as you start talking about objects that are more distant, surprise immediately comes. Does it really take 8.3 minutes for light to reach such a close Sun, and 5.5 hours to reach the icy Sun? And this, flying almost 300,000 km in a second! And in order to get to the same Alpha in the constellation Centaurus, a beam of light will need 4.25 years.

Even for near space our usual units of measurement are not entirely suitable. Of course, you can take measurements in kilometers, but then the numbers will not cause respect, but some fear due to their size. For ours, it is customary to carry out measurements in astronomical units.

Now cosmic distances to planets and other near-space objects will not look so scary. From our star to only 0.387 AU, and to - 5.203 AU. Even to the most distant planet - - only 39.518 AU.

The distance to the Moon is accurate to the nearest kilometer. This was done by placing corner reflectors on its surface and using the laser ranging method. The average distance to the Moon was 384,403 km. But the solar system extends much further than the orbit of the last planet. The system border is as much as 150,000 a.m. e. Even these units begin to be expressed in grandiose quantities. Other measurement standards are appropriate here, because distances in space and the size of our Universe are beyond the boundaries of reasonable concepts.

Middle space

There is nothing faster than light in nature (such sources are not yet known), so it was its speed that was taken as the basis. For objects closest to our planetary system and for those distant from it, the path traveled by light in one year is taken as unit. It takes about two years for light to travel to the edge of the Solar System, and 4.25 light years to the nearest star in Centaurus. of the year. The well-known Polar Star is located 460 sv away from us. years.

Each of us has dreamed of traveling to the past or future. Traveling into the past is quite possible. You just need to look into the starry night sky - this is the past, distant and infinitely distant.

We observe all space objects in their distant past, and the further away the observed object is, the further into the past we look. While the light flies from a distant star to us, so much time passes that perhaps at the moment this star no longer exists!

The brightest star in our sky - Sirius - will go out for us only 9 years after its death, and the red giant Betelgeuse - only after 650 years.

It has a diameter of 100,000 light. years, and a thickness of about 1,000 light. years. It is incredibly difficult to imagine such distances, and almost impossible to estimate them. Our Earth, together with its star and other objects of the solar system, revolves around the center in 225 million years, and makes one revolution every 150,000 light years. years.

Deep space

Distances in space to distant objects are measured using the parallax (displacement) method. Another unit of measurement flowed from it - parsec Parsec (pc) - from parallactic second This is the distance from which the radius of the earth's orbit is observed at an angle of 1″.. The value of one parsec was 3.26 light. year or 206,265 a. e. Accordingly, there are thousands of parsecs (Kpc) and millions (Mpc). And the most distant objects in the Universe will be expressed in distances of a billion parsecs (Gpc). The parallactic method can be used to determine distances to objects distant no further than 100 pc, b O Longer distances will have very significant measurement errors. The photometric method is used to study distant cosmic bodies. This method is based on the properties of the object located at a distance of 660 kpc. The group of galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major is 2.64 Mpc away from us. And the visible one is 46 billion light years, or 14 Gpc!

Measurements from space

To improve the accuracy of measurements, the Hipparchus satellite was launched in 1989. The satellite's task was to determine the parallaxes of more than 100 thousand stars with millisecond accuracy. As a result of observations, distances were calculated for 118,218 stars. These included more than 200 Cepheids. For some objects, previously known parameters have changed. For example, the open star cluster Pleiades approached - instead of 135 pc of the previous distance, it turned out to be only 118 pc.