A Remote Concept
The Pole of Inaccessibility refers to the point on Earth farthest from any coastline. While there are multiple such poles for different continents and oceans, the most famous one is located in the southern Pacific Ocean, also known as Point Nemo.
Point Nemo: The Oceanic Pole
Point Nemo lies roughly 2,688 kilometers from the nearest land—Ducie Island, Motu Nui (part of Easter Island), and Maher Island near Antarctica. Discovered in 1992 by engineer Hrvoje Lukatela, it is named after the fictional Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
A Place No One Lives
At Point Nemo, the nearest humans are usually aboard the International Space Station, orbiting 408 kilometers above Earth. The area is so isolated that it is sometimes called the “oceanic desert,” with little marine life due to its nutrient-poor waters.
A Spacecraft Graveyard
Point Nemo also serves as a decommissioning site for spacecraft. Agencies like NASA and Roscosmos target it for controlled reentries due to its remoteness, earning it the nickname “spacecraft cemetery.”
The Pole of Inaccessibility refers to the point on Earth farthest from any coastline. While there are multiple such poles for different continents and oceans, the most famous one is located in the southern Pacific Ocean, also known as Point Nemo.🧵1/4👇 pic.twitter.com/kWkZ8xyC83
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