Nasa has ‘space graveyard’ hidden under the sea where hundreds of dead spacecraft are buried – and it’s at farthest place from human civilisation
DEEP in the South Pacific Ocean lies a graveyard of hundreds of fallen spacecraft.
Point Nemo, Latin for “no one”, is further from land than any point on Earth, making it the ideal spot to crash defunct rockets and satellites.
At least 260 spacecraft – mostly Russian – have been laid to rest there by Nasa and other space agencies since it was first used in 1971.
By far the largest was Russia’s MIR space lab, a 120-tonne tangle of metal that splashed down at Point Nemo in 2001. It’s thought the International Space Station will end up there in 2024.
The spot helps prevent the build up of dangerous orbital space junk that could collide with future satellites and rocket launches.
“Smaller satellites will burn up but pieces of larger ones will survive to reach the Earth’s surface,” astronomer Dr David Whitehouse wrote for the BBC.
“To avoid crashing on a populated area they are brought down near the point of oceanic inaccessibility.”
Point Nemo sits between Australia, South America and New Zealand at a point more than 1,600 miles from land.
Nobody lives near it, and it’s not got much wildlife, making it the perfect dumping ground for space junk – mostly disused cargo vehicles.
The desolate region has previously been called a “space graveyard” by European Space Agency scientist Stijn Lemmens.
To land in Point Nemo, engineers have to precisely time the descent of their vehicles to hit the water.
Spacecraft break apart as they re-enter the atmosphere, meaning they land as thousands of tiny pieces in the South Pacific.
Vehicles can spread across an area a thousand miles long, according to Dr Holger Krag, who heads up the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office.
What is buried at Point Nemo?
Spacecraft crash landed at Point Nemo include:
- A SpaceX rocket
- Five European Space Agency cargo ships, including the Automated Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne
- Six Japanese HTV cargo craft
- More than 140 Russian resupply craft
- Six Russian Salyut space stations
- The Soviet-era MIR space station
“We don’t know precisely where they fall because it is a long trail,” Dr Krag told the Daily Mail.
“There are maybe only ten fragments that survive re-entry, spread across hundreds of miles.”
Spacecraft downed at Nemo include a SpaceX rocket, five European Space Agency cargo ships, and six Japanese HTV cargo craft.
More than 140 Russian resupply vehicles have also met their fate in Nemo’s remote waters.
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In other space news, Nasa will let tourists visit the International Space Station from 2020 – but each trip will cost you £39million.
A stunning Nasa timelapse recently revealed an astronaut’s view as the ISS soars over Earth.
In 2018, Nasa astronauts played the first game of tennis in space during a televised match on the ISS.
Are you worried about rogue space junk? Let us know in the comments!
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