House journey normally entails rockets and hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, however what in case you may merely run there? Whereas bodily unattainable, breaking down the numbers presents a captivating have a look at the sheer scale of area journey and the way lengthy it could take even probably the most devoted athlete to succeed in key milestones in area—on foot.
The primary hurdle: the Earth’s environment
The sting of area isn’t as distant because it might sound. The generally accepted boundary, the Kármán Line, sits at 100 km above Earth’s floor, although NASA considers area to start at 80 km. As reported on YouTube by tech explainer Cleo Abram, in case you may keep a gradual working velocity of 10 km/h you’ll attain:
48 minutes—The purpose the place oxygen ranges change into too low to breathe (that 10K coaching may assist, however good luck with the altitude adjustment).
One hour—The altitude the place business planes cruise at ~12 km (extra airborne site visitors than your normal race begin—and thoughts the turbulence).
Eight hours—NASA’s official boundary for area at 80K (time to swap your hydration vest for an oxygen tank—and your tremendous footwear gained’t enable you up right here).
10 hours—The Kármán Line (100K), widely known as the sting of the environment (an ultrarunner’s dream milestone—simply don’t anticipate a finisher’s medal).
Past the environment: reaching satellites and the ISS
After crossing into area, you’d nonetheless have a protracted method to go earlier than reaching something vital. The bottom satellites orbit at 160 km, which might take about 16 hours of continuous working at 10km/hr. The Worldwide House Station (ISS), the place astronauts reside and work, orbits at 400 km—a 40-hour run at 10 km/hr, with no stops to refuel your hydration vest or seek the advice of together with your crew.
Operating to the moon: the last word extremely
Reaching the moon, sitting 384,400 km away, would take 1,600 days—or greater than 4 years—of continuous working at 10 km/h. In fact, no human may realistically maintain that tempo indefinitely. Even elite ultrarunners wrestle to carry a gradual velocity for greater than a day.
For context, Aleksandr Sorokin, the Lithuanian multi-day racing phenom, holds the world report, at 319.7 km, for the farthest distance run in 24 hours, sustaining a blistering tempo (over the space) of 13.7 km/h. And he’s the quickest individual in historical past at that period. Now think about maintaining even a a lot slower tempo, not only for a day, however for months or years. The sheer bodily and psychological endurance required would make this the last word take a look at of human limits.
In case you aimed for a extra sensible strategy—say, working a marathon per day—it could take almost 36 years to succeed in the moon. That’s almost half a lifetime of working, all for a one-way ticket to lunar solitude. In case you’d relatively goal for a planet, Mars, at 225 million km away, would take 2,564 years to succeed in at a velocity of 10 km/h.
A extra sensible problem
Whereas working to area isn’t an choice, imagining the trouble helps put its scale into perspective. House tourism is turning into a actuality, however for now, runners should plan their journey races in a extra earthly setting. Possibly begin with a vertical kilometre earlier than setting your sights on the celebrities.