No no, there's no limit

[webofevil]

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, one of the many things that was changed forever was the notion of airspace. Before then, it had been safe to assume that the space above a country simply belonged to that country; suddenly, with wealthy nations able to sling their technology overhead at will, it turned out there was a natural boundary after all, somewhere before the oxygen ran out. The exact boundary remains undefined in international law, which is probably just as well. One country in particular would vigorously resist such a law, because apparently it has still not even accepted the principle that there is any upper limit to its airspace. That country is Norway.

No, it isn’t. It is, of course, France. The country apparently believes it extends infinitely upwards. Best of all for fans of Gallic sophistication and blowing up boats belonging to environmental protestors, the spin of the Earth’s axis and the shape of its orbit mean that there is by now [very probably] no part of the universe that has not, technically, been French.


Fig. 1: Infinite France

Comments

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Since the US is now developing yer actual Space Marines (http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003088.html) - with the intention of deploying them from space to avoid all that pesky negotiation for overflight rights - I expect they will soon start pushing hard for a convention that puts a lid on airspace.

They can't get back into space once they've landed, so it's sort of Aliens meets Black Hawk Down. Would look good on CNN though.