Point Nemo: The Most Remote Place on Earth and the Spacecraft Graveyard

Point Nemo is the furthest point in the ocean from any land.

Imagine falling overboard and needing to swim to the nearest shore; the longest possible swim would start at Point Nemo. This puzzle, known as the Longest Swim Problem, finds its solution far into the South Pacific Ocean at Point Nemo.

Where is Point Nemo? (Location & Coordinates)

Point Nemo, officially known as the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, sits at 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W, over 2,688 km from the nearest land. It is the single most remote location on Earth, entirely surrounded by open ocean.

The furthest point from land is a point with a maximum equal distance to three points of land. If you moved in any direction from Point Nemo, you'd be closer to one of the points than the others.

The three nearest landmasses to Point Nemo, each about 2,688 km away, are:

Ducie Atoll in the Pitcairn Islands
Moto Nui, a small islet off the coast of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Maher Island, off the coast of Antarctica

If you've ever been somewhere with only the sea in all directions, imagine what it would feel like to begin a 2,688 km swim (!) from there.

How Was Point Nemo Discovered?

Croatian survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela identified and named Point Nemo using computer calculations. Lukatela named it after Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's classic story Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Nemo means nobody in Latin.

Lukatela faced challenges in determining its exact coordinates, such as choosing the edge of Ducie Atoll's tidal sandbar and Maher Island being beneath ice for most of the year.

Facts about Point Nemo

A Spacecraft Graveyard

One of the strangest facts about Point Nemo is that it is a designated spacecraft cemetery. Since the 1970s, NASA, the European Space Agency, and others have deorbited satellites and spacecraft over this remote spot. The lack of human activity and extreme remoteness make it the perfect safe crash site for space debris.

Over 250 spacecraft, including the Mir space station, have ended their journeys here in this region. The International Space Station itself is also planned to end here when it is retired.

The Loneliest Place on Earth

At any given time, likely the closest people to Point Nemo are often those in the International Space Station passing overhead a mere 400km above.

A Dead Zone in the Ocean

The waters surrounding Point Nemo are part of the South Pacific Gyre, a massive current system that isolates it from nutrient-rich waters. As a result, marine life here is scarce, making it one of the least biologically active parts of the ocean.

The Oceanic and Continental Poles of Inaccessibility

Point Nemo is also known as the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility. In contrast, the Continental Pole of Inaccessibility—the point on land furthest from the ocean—is in northwestern China near Kazakhstan, a remarkable 2,645 km from the nearest shore.

And the antipode to Point Nemo, the point directly opposite it on Earth's surface, lies somewhere in Kazakhstan.