What is the Karman Line?
The Karman Line is an internationally designated altitude commonly used to define outer space. According to definitions by the Fdration Aronautique Internationale (FAI), the Karman or Krmn line lies at a height of 100 km (about 62 miles) above Earth’s surface (ie. in technical terms 100 km above mean sea level). Around this altitude the Earth’s atmosphere becomes negligible for aeronautic purposes, and there is an abrupt increase in atmospheric temperature and interaction with solar radiation. It was named after Theodore von Krmn (May 11, 1881 – May 6, 1963), an engineer and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronautics during the seminal era in the 1940s and 1950s. He is personally responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization.
