Explore Point Nemo, the oceanic pole of inaccessibility and the most remote place on Earth. Hear about its unsettling desolation, part in housing spacecraft graveyards, and secrets that lie in the depths of this desolate ocean site.
Point Nemo
Ever fantasised about getting completely away from it all? In a world connected by satellites, social networks and endless notification banners, the idea of true isolation seems more a dream than a reality. But there is a spot on our planet that is so far removed from civilization that the nearest humans are frequently in orbit above it in space. That place is Point Nemo, and this is its story.
It’s a place that doesn’t make its way onto the maps of most people. You will encounter no landmarks, no signs of life, no gift shops, certainly. It’s the middle of nowhere in every way — the middle of the vast South Pacific Ocean, halfway, more or less, between the coasts of Chile and New Zealand, and as far from dry land as it is possible to be. In this deep dive, let’s take a look at what it is, where its located, and why this murky patch of water serves as our final resting place for some of humanity’s greatest technological accomplishments.
Point Nemo is not an island or geographical feature. It is a specific, calculated georeference: the oceanic pole of inaccessibility. This word describes the spot in the ocean that’s the farthest from any coast.
Its formal position is 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W.
The “Nemo” part of the name is a clear homage to Captain Nemo, the iconic anti-hero of the submarine in Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The word "Nemo" is Latin for "no one" or "nobody," so the perfect name for an insular abandoned place.
This had been purely theoretical for centuries. It would take until 1992 for the exact site to be identified by a Croatian-Canadian survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela. He didn’t take to the high seas; he used a specialized geospatial computer program. The program crunched numbers from coastlines around the world, and figured the one point that was equidistant from the three nearest three chunks of land. The result was Point Nemo.
For a true sense of Point Nemo’s remoteness, consider where it is. It’s at the center of the South Pacific Gyre, a huge system of circulating ocean. The nearest land points are:
2. Motu Nui: To the northeast, one of the Easter Islands.
3. Maher Island: To the south, located off the coast of Antarctica.
Each one of these small landmasses is over 2,688 kilometres (1,670 miles) from Point Nemo. This brutal isolation results in sailors at Point Nemo being geographically closer to astronauts than other Earthlings. The ISS circles the planet at a height of some 400 kilometres (250 miles). When it flies directly overhead, the astronauts within are the nearest human beings to anyone at Point Nemo.
While Point Nemo is uninhabited by humans, it is not untouched by human activity. Its vast remoteness has long made it the safest location on Earth to crash large, unguided objects from space. This has gained it another, darker nickname: the Spacecraft Cemetery.
Whether it’s a satellite, a space station or a cargo craft, when it reaches the end of its useful life in orbit, it needs to be brought down safely. Space agencies worldwide, such as NASA, Roscosmos, and the European Space Agency (ESA), use Point Nemo as a point of impact for de-orbiting spacecraft.
Some of the most famous "inhabitants" of the spaceship graveyard are:
So far, the largest thing headed for that oceanic graveyard is the International Space Station. Weighing close to 420,000 kg (close to one million pounds), the ISS will be de-orbited as early as 2031. Its final trip through the atmosphere will be a fiery plunge, and the fragments will plunge into the deep, lonely waters of Point Nemo.
People wonder what weird undiscovered animals might live there, with such a peculiar position. In reality, that significance is much more mundane. Point Nemo is a point in the southeastern Pacific Ocean where there is a black hole of life. It is frequently referred to as a “marine desert.”
There are two main reasons for it:
The area is not entirely sterile — scientists have discovered bacteria and a few small organisms that live near volcanic vents on the seafloor — but it is one of the least biologically active places in the world’s oceans.
For years, an internet rumor held that Point Nemo was related to a mysterious ultra-low-frequency underwater sound recorded in 1997. This sound, referred to as "The Bloop," was strong, loud, and remained unexplained. Its position was fairly well triangulated to a desolate patch of the South Pacific, and for a long time, a lot of people thought that some gargantuan, unfathomable sea monster dwelled around Point Nemo.
Science has, however, subsequently offered a more reasonable — if duller — explanation. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined that the sound was likely produced by a massive icequake—when an iceberg fractures and is violently ejected from an Antarctic glacier. Though The Bloop is no longer an enigma, the mythology of such a remote and desolate part of the world persists.
Point Nemo is not just a dot on an atlas. It is pure isolation, a demonstration of how vast our planet’s oceans are. It's a place that is both devoid of humanity and deeply at its centre, selected to receive the ends of our most sophisticated technology.
And in a world where it sometimes seems that every inch of the planet has been plotted and prodded, Point Nemo is a jarring reminder that there are still patches of deep emptiness. It’s the end of the Earth, a lonely monument to distance, depth — and the silent, indifferent might of the sea.
A: The farthest area from land is called Point Nemo, the oceanic pole of inaccessibility. It is the point in the South Pacific Ocean that is farthest from any landmass.
A: You can technically sail to the coordinates of Point Nemo, but there’s nothing to see there. It is not a tourist destination, and getting there involves a long and expensive journey over a vast and biologically-poor ocean. Competitors in global sailing races, such as The Ocean Race, have come nearest to it.
A: Point Nemo is a “spacecraft cemetery.” Over 263 pieces of space debris have been de-orbited into the region since 1971. This includes the Russian Mir space station and will be the final destination for the International Space Station (ISS) in 2031.
A: Point Nemo is known as a "marine desert." Because it is in the center of the South Pacific Gyre, the water is nutrient-poor, and very little life is sustained. The few bacteria that do live near volcanic vents on the seafloor make it one of the least biologically active ocean regions on the planet.
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