Point Nemo, located in the Pacific Ocean, is recognized as the most isolated place on Earth, sitting over 1,600 miles from the nearest land. Nestled between New Zealand and Antarctica, this remote spot is so far removed that astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are often the closest humans to it. This unique isolation has earned Point Nemo the title of ‘spacecraft cemetery,’ where decommissioned spacecraft, including the ISS upon its retirement in 2030, are sent to rest.
Officially known as the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, Point Nemo was discovered in 1992 by Hrvoje Lukatela, a Canadian-Russian engineer. Since its discovery, more than 260 pieces of space debris, ranging from Russia's Mir space station to NASA's Skylab, have been intentionally decommissioned here to prevent falling debris from harming populated areas. Holger Krag, the Head of the Space Safety Programme at the European Space Agency, said that Point Nemo is the safest place for re-entering space debris, thanks to its vast and uninhabited oceans.
However, Point Nemo’s remoteness is not without its own troubling discoveries. In 2018, microplastics were found in the area when yachts passed through during the Volvo Ocean Race, highlighting that human influence extends even to the most distant locations on the planet.
If you were to stand at Point Nemo, you would see nothing but the endless expanse of ocean in all directions. This area is surrounded by approximately nine million square miles of open water, with an average temperature of just 45°F. The nearest landmasses are stark: Ducie Island to the north and Maher Island off the coast of Antarctica to the south. The closest point of human civilization is Easter Island, located 1,670 miles away, itself known for being one of the most isolated inhabited places on Earth.
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