NASA Plans ISS Deorbit to Point Nemo by 2030 as Ocean Graveyard Spans 22 Million sq km
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 20
NASA Plans ISS Deorbit to Point Nemo by 2030 as Ocean Graveyard Spans 22 Million sq km
3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 20
Summary
NASA has lined up a dedicated deorbit vehicle to bring the International Space Station down into waters near Point Nemo around 2030, targeting the South Pacific disposal zone used for falling space hardware.
2,688 kilometers from the nearest land, Point Nemo is the ocean’s pole of inaccessibility, making debris least likely to threaten people or shipping in a largely empty stretch of sea.
400 kilometers above Earth, ISS crews can sometimes be the closest humans to Point Nemo when the station’s 51.6-degree orbit carries it overhead, because the nearest islands are uninhabited.
Mir was deliberately brought down there in 2001, and other cargo craft and defunct satellites have followed, cementing Point Nemo’s role as the world’s spacecraft cemetery.