Featured Image Credit: Flickr/ Google Maps
Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean sits a place so isolated that the closest piece of land is a tiny cluster of islands only inhabited by birds.
Deriving its name from the Latin term meaning 'no one', Point Nemo is marked as the remote island on planet Earth.
If you're thinking it's an ideal spot for a quiet getaway, you might have a hard time doing so.
For one, it takes a boat and several weeks to get there - and it wouldn't be smooth sailing either. And if you manage to reach it, not a single person in sight would be there.
Advert
Also known as the ‘Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility’, Point Nemo's closest land masses are 1,670 miles (2,700 kilometres) away, including an island in Antarctica and another near Easter Island.
Interestingly, those who find themselves at this remote location would be closer to astronauts in space than anyone else on Earth.
At a distance of 260 miles, the nearest point of contact would be astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Moreover, you'd have to be aware of any falling space debris, such as one recent case of a falling toolbox that a pair of astronauts dropped.
As such, Point Nemo has claimed its purpose as a 'space cemetery' for dumping space junk.
Since there's a total absence of nearby humans, NASA considered it the perfect place to dispose of space debris from their expeditions.
Their decision was based on the fact that this is a place where 'nobody is living, where nobody is flying, and where you have no boats,' according to Stijn Lemmens, a space debris analyst with the European Space Agency.
Holger Krag, head of the Space Safety Programme Office at the European Space Agency, said: 'This is the largest ocean area without any islands. It is just the safest area where the long fall-out zone of debris after a re-entry fits into.'
Most of the junk like satellites goes unnoticed because it burns up so much before it hits the ground.
However, larger items, like spacecraft and rocket parts, have to be planned well in advance to ensure they fall specifically in this far-reaching bit of land whilst not posing any risk to humans.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson explained: 'Spacefaring nations must minimise the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximise transparency regarding those operations.'
Currently, Point Nemo hosts around 263 pieces of broken space equipment.
