POINT NEMO: THE WATERY SATELLITE GRAVEYARD

Image: Unsplash

6 March 2024

Sitting in the middle of the Pacific ocean is Point Nemo, the "loneliest place on Earth". The nearest land is 2,700 km away

Image: Google Earth

As per NASA, it is named after the famous submarine sailor from Jules Verne's 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'

Image: Pixabay

This "pole of inaccessibility" is South of Easter Island and north of Antarctica

Image: Unsplash

This extremity has made Point Nemo an attractive target for some unlikely prospectors - the space industry

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Since the 1970s, almost 300 retired craft, including space stations and satellites, have been dumped here

Image: Pexels

NASA announced it will do the same with the ISS, which has been in orbit for 25 years and will be retired by 2031

Image: Unsplash

Ocean surrounds this point as far as the eye can see, and plunges to depths of over 13,000 feet

Image: Pixabay

It has also emerged as an ideal place to dump discarded metal because of its weak ocean currents

Image: Pixabay

The currents and remoteness of the area limit the flow of nutrients to this part of the ocean, thus not affecting the marine life

Image: Pexels

The extremely intense UV rays make it a challenging place for life to survive and thrive

Image: Pixabay

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