Few people have ever seen the loneliest place
on our planet, Point Nemo. Nope, it’s not in Antarctica. This spot lies more than 13,000 ft deep in
the South Pacific Ocean, and is further from land than any other point on Earth. But that's not the only amazing thing Point
Nemo is famous for. Once, someone decided that it would make a
perfect place to crash defunct satellites - and that's how Point Nemo has become the
world's only spacecraft graveyard. The Oceanic Point of Inaccessibility, which
is another name for Point Nemo, is the most remote place on Earth. In fact, it's so isolated, that at any given
moment, the people closest to this location are probably astronauts! Point Nemo is surrounded by more than 1,400
miles of water in any direction. Why am I telling you about the Oceanic Point
of Inaccessibility? Well, the thing is, this spot has a much closer
connection to space than you might think! Right now, somewhere above your head, thousands
of artificial satellites are orbiting our planet. Like any other machine, a satellite can't
function forever. Usually, after about 15 years, its life is
over. But imagine all these hundreds of satellites
going out of service. The question is: what next? Are they just supposed to stay there circling
our planet forever? But then, in a couple of decades, we would
hardly see the stars behind the curtain of floating space-junk! Well, I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. There are two ways to get rid of dead satellites,
and the choice depends on how big it is, and how high it is. If a satellite's orbit lies very high above
our planet, it's easier to blast it into outer space than return it to Earth. Besides, it takes much less fuel. As a result, they end up in an eerie place,
which is called a "graveyard orbit." This orbit is 200 miles farther from Earth
than that of the farthest active satellite, which is about 22,300 miles! But if a satellite isn't large and is moving
relatively low, engineers use what fuel is left in its tanks to slow it down. As a result, the thing just falls out of its
orbit and starts to approach Earth at the breakneck speed of over 17,000 miles per hour. In this case, the heat coming from the friction
of entering the atmosphere burns up the satellite. However, in this case, the satellite's operators
must prove that if it falls on its own, the probability of property damage or human injury
is lower than 1 in 10,000. Which they typically can with relatively small
space crafts. But what about the big stuff, like large satellites
or even space stations? The problem with them is that they might not
burn up entirely before they reach the surface of our Earth, which is a terrible safety risk. That's why, if chances are more than 1 in
10,000, operators must perform a "controlled de-orbiting." That's when the Point of Inaccessibility comes
into play. Aerospace engineers appreciate that they "can
put things down" in Point Nemo without hitting anything. On the other hand, "burying" a defunct satellite
in the spacecraft cemetery requires some outstanding skills. First and foremost, space agencies must time
a crash-landing so that it happens right over the necessary spot. And that's sometimes easier said than done. In September 2011, China launched its first
space station, Tiangong-1. Everything went great until the space agency
lost control of the station in 2016. Having officially ended its service, the station
had to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in 2018, but no-one knew where it would crash. That meant that 8.5 tons of titanium frame
and fuel tanks wrapped in glass fiber were headed toward a landing at a speed of about
200 miles per hour. And since China didn't have control over the
station, they couldn't assure that this leviathan would disintegrate exactly over Point Nemo. In the end, the space station did fall into
the Pacific Ocean, but it happened more than 2,200 miles away from the Point of Inaccessibility. In any case, the station mostly burned up
while entering the atmosphere and hit the ocean as a shower of thousands of tiny pieces. But as you remember, the crash-landing took
place because there was no control of the station. Luckily, in most cases, aerospace engineers
can direct spacecraft toward their landing site. That's why, since 1971, when Point Nemo was
chosen for a spacecraft graveyard, space agencies have already dumped more than 260 dead satellites
into the ocean. The largest spacecraft is Russia's MIR space
lab, buried under 2 miles of water. It's a massive 120-ton metal thing which hit
the surface of the ocean in 2001. Other spacecraft resting at the bottom of
Point Nemo are 6 Russian Salyut space stations, 6 Japanese HTV cargo spacecraft, 5 European
Space Agency cargo ships, and even a SpaceX rocket. And somewhere around 2024, the International
Space Station is likely to end up in the "spacecraft graveyard" as well. But if you thought that the Point Nemo space
cemetery looked organized and neat, you might change your opinion after I tell you how things
really are. Dead spacecraft aren't tucked carefully together
on the bottom. Since even large spacecraft burn up as they
enter the atmosphere, it's not a whole object that touches the surface of the water. Nope, a massive spacecraft usually breaks
into an oval-shaped cloud of debris that can extend to more than 1,000 miles long and almost
a hundred miles wide. Luckily, that's not a problem because the
land-free area around Point Nemo occupies more than 6 million square miles, and the
chances that space debris causes harm to people are meager. So far, there’s only been one case involving
a woman who was lightly hit on the shoulder by a piece of space debris. But the potential risk of this debris injuring
someone still exists, right? Then why don't we just leave all the dead
spacecraft alone in their orbits? See for yourself: today, more than 4,000 spacecraft
are circling Earth at different altitudes, and even so, there’s space for many more. Pardon the pun. But if all the space around our planet gets
crowded with satellites, both functioning and dead, people will face the serious problem
of space junk. Besides all the spacecraft, space would be
swarming with artificial objects bigger than your fist, along with countless bits of metal,
bolts, screws, and flecks of paint. The most dangerous thing might be one large
piece of space debris hitting another. Not that it happens often, but it does happen. For instance, one satellite collision occurred
in 1996, another in 2009, and two more in 2013. After these accidents, clouds of space debris
appeared that will pose a threat to other satellites hundreds of years after the collisions! That's the reason why space agencies take
getting spacecraft out of their orbit so seriously. In fact, most modern spacecraft have built-in
systems that help to de-orbit them and land in the designated area. But what about those poor old things out there
in space which have been orbiting the planet for decades? Uncontrolled, they pose a big threat to the
safety of the planet. But don't worry, scientists are working on
the solution to this problem. Hopefully, there’ll soon be new technologies
that’ll let us remove these old spacecraft from their orbit by lassoing and tugging them
away. And now, how about some baffling facts about
one of the most unusual places on Earth, Point Nemo? The most hilarious thing about the Point of
Inaccessibility is that the man who discovered it has never been there! It was 1992 when Hrvoje Lukatela, a Croatian
survey engineer, used a computer program that figured out which spot was the farthest distance
from all other land coordinates. And by the way, if you thought that Point
Nemo was named after a fish, think again. The truth is that "Nemo" means "no man" in
Latin, which is suitable for the place we're talking about, right? It turned out that the spot was located almost
in the heart of the South Pacific Gyre - a monster-sized rotating current. This current, which prevents nutrient-rich
water from entering the area, is to blame for the near-absence of life in Point Nemo. And as you know, no food - no life (well,
at least other than tiny crabs living near the volcanic vents and ever-present bacteria). It makes the Point of Inaccessibility the
most lifeless place in the ocean. Alright, here’s your chance. Would you like to visit Point Nemo and see
the spacecraft cemetery? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then give
this video a like and share it with a friend. But – hey! – don't go falling out of orbit
just yet! We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to
check out. All you have to do is pick the left or right
video, click on it, and enjoy! Stay on the Bright Side of life!
