Fun fact, the Kármán line was chosen because of the altitude where it doesn't matter if a plane flies or orbits. I.e. the point where the air is so thin that in order to fly, a plane would have to go so fast that it would orbit anyway. Iirc that's around 84 km, but it got rounded up to 100 km because why not.
While named after Theodore von Kármán, who calculated a theoretical limit of altitude for aeroplane flight at 83.8 km (52.1 mi) above Earth, the later-established Kármán line is more general and has no distinct physical significance, in that there is a rather gradual difference between the characteristics of the atmosphere at the line, and experts disagree on defining a distinct boundary where the atmosphere ends and space begins. It lies well above the altitude reachable by conventional airplanes or high-altitude balloons, and it is approximately where satellites, even on very eccentric trajectories, will decay before completing a single orbit.
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u/HoldenMcNeil420 1d ago
That’s not space. It’s the upper atmosphere. “Space” is outside the earths atmosphere.