---
kind: "section"
citation: "51 U.S.C. § 20162"
title: "51"
title_heading: "National and Commercial Space Programs"
number: "20162"
heading: "Definition of upper atmosphere"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/51/20162"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — General Program and Policy Provisions"
  - "Chapter 201 — National Aeronautics and Space Program"
  - "Subchapter IV — Upper Atmosphere Research"
---

# §20162. Definition of upper atmosphere


In this subchapter, the term “upper atmosphere” means that portion of the Earth’s sensible atmosphere above the troposphere.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 111–314, § 3, Dec. 18, 2010, 124 Stat. 3354.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 20162 | 42 U.S.C. 2482. | Pub. L. 85–568, title IV, § 402, as added Pub. L. 94–39, § 8, June 19, 1975, 89 Stat. 222. |