10 Creepy Details Surrounding Point Nemo, The Most Remote Location In The World

6 /10 Fragmented Junks

Point Nemo offers no easy commercial access. Also, it makes sense for spacefaring nations to dump some outdated, unused, or broken pieces of their satellites into the region.

No regulation prevents them from practicing; no nation claims jurisdiction. The debris is not likely concentrated in a specific area but scattered across a vast territory.

It is not like the waste was transported there. Instead, it was the destination of every re-entry from space to Earth. The absence of any island – and therefore life – makes it a safe dumping ground.

5 /10 ISS’ Final Destination

At 2,000 miles north of Antarctica and 3,000 miles east of New Zealand, the closest humans to Point Nemo are those on board the International Space Station orbiting 261 miles above the planet.

When ISS ends its service in 2030, NASA has planned to bring it down to Point Nemo, and it shall plummet to the South Pacific Ocean at the bottom of Point Nemo along with many other decommissioned satellites.

Some say the region is the planet’s space graveyard, an appropriate nickname considering its use.

4 /10 Uncontrolled Re-Entry

Some re-entry is carefully-planned; others fly down, seemingly heading towards random destinations.

According to Holder Krag, the head of the Space Debris Office at the European Space Agency, up to 200 tons of space debris is made uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere every year.

Most go unnoticed as they burn to nothing long before they even get close to the ground.

The junks that stay above (such as decommissioned and therefore uncontrolled satellites) have every possibility to collide with other functioning equipment, for example, a space station with a human crew inside.

3 /10 Dangerous Large Debris

Small debris will not pose any real threat to the population on Earth as the atmosphere will turn them to ashes.

At the moment, more than 500,000 pieces of debris about the size of a marble could cause extensive damage to the spacecraft.

Around 26,000 pieces are as big as a softball and will destroy an entire satellite on a single impact.

Over 100 million pieces are only the size of a grain of salt but still powerful enough to puncture an astronaut’s spacesuit. For large debris, a controlled re-entry is the safest option.

2 /10 Loudest Underwater Sound

About five years after Point Nemo was mapped, the region generated an unusual noise so loud it could be heard from 3,000 miles away.

It was the loudest underwater sound ever recorded, even more, audible than the rumble of a geological shift.

Scientists determined the sound was generated from near the pole, and it was the sound of a massive pile of ice block breaking off Antarctica.

The noise traveled through the water for thousands of miles before it finally turned down.

1 /10 South Pacific Gyre

Point Nemo is also home to South Pacific Gyre, a constant current that pushes through everything in its path. Food sources and nutrients flow away from the location along with the wind.

It is the main reason there are barely any complex organisms in Point Nemo, and they have no reason to stay in a place where food is scarce.

The only activities in the region are the volcanic vents and possibly some bacteria and crabs that can withstand the strong currents.