All articles tagged with #oceanic pole of inaccessibility
Point Nemo in the South Pacific is the oceanic pole of inaccessibility—the farthest point from land—and serves as the spacecraft cemetery for controlled deorbiting. NASA plans to retire the ISS around 2030 using a dedicated deorbit vehicle to steer wreckage into this remote, international-water zone, though timing and environmental impacts remain under discussion.
Point Nemo, also known as the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, is the furthest point from land in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, making it an ideal location to dump derelict spacecraft. Over 160 spacecraft, including Soviet satellites and end-of-life satellites from various countries, have met their end in these waters. The International Space Station (ISS) is also scheduled to be de-orbited and crashed near Point Nemo in 2030. While some companies offered flights to catch a glimpse of the de-orbited Mir space station, the best view was from the island of Fiji.