What Is the Mesosphere?
Just as the physical body of the earth is comprised of many layers, the earth’s atmosphere is also made up of layers. One of these is called the mesosphere. The literal translation is “middle sphere,” as it is sandwiched between the major top and bottom layers of the atmosphere. The first layer is the troposphere, the second is the stratosphere, the mesosphere is third, then on top of that is the thermosphere and exosphere. The mesosphere begins approximately 30 miles (48.2 km) above the surface of the earth and extends to approximately 50 miles (80.4 km). This “middle sphere” is the layer in the atmosphere in which almost all of the ozone is created. This happens when ultraviolet radiation breaks up the oxygen in the mesosphere into highly reactive oxygen atoms. These oxygen atoms then bind with oxygen molecules in the mesosphere layer to form ozone. So, the O2 molecules in the mesosphere become two separate O atoms, then they combine with the O2 atoms in the mesosphere to form O3, wh
World Absolute Record for balloons? The flight will be sanctioned with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) and Federation Aeronautic International (FAI) for homologation as the World Balloon Absolute Altitude Record. We will do this even though it will be far different from any previous tropospheric or stratospheric ascension and will utilize aerostatic apparatus hardly recognizable as a balloon, apparently not fitting into any of the officially recognized categories. While the object and motivation for XAP is not an FAI Record, per se, nor even a Guinness Book World Record, the flight will far surpass any previous efforts. This flight, into the base realms of “Space”, will exit the stratosphere and penetrate well into the mesosphere for the first time by any non-powered craft. That sovereign territory of the limitless space world has previously only had transitory visitors , or been passed through, by rocket planes and orbiting spacecraft. XAP will linger there for the first tim
