WEBVTT - Why Is Point Nemo the World's Spacecraft Graveyard?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren Bola blam here. Since the launch of Sputnik

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<v Speaker 1>one in ninety seven, several thousand human made devices have

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<v Speaker 1>been sent into Earth's orbit. A return trip was never

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<v Speaker 1>in the cards for many of them. Thus, broken satellites,

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<v Speaker 1>abandoned rockets, and assorted bits of mission related garbage are

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<v Speaker 1>now whizzing around our planet at frighteningly high speeds. Some

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<v Speaker 1>objects may be traveling faster than twenty seven thousand kilometers

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<v Speaker 1>per hour that's around seventeen thousand miles per hour, or

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<v Speaker 1>really fast, and the trash begets trash. Collisions can generate

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<v Speaker 1>even more debris, bleeding to even more impacts. This is

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<v Speaker 1>a serious problem for a world that's dependent upon telecommunications

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<v Speaker 1>and GPS signals. More than one active satellite has been

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<v Speaker 1>destroyed by space debris, and many more will doubtless meet

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<v Speaker 1>the same fate. We haven't come up with a perfect

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<v Speaker 1>solution yet, but there are ways to remove some of

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<v Speaker 1>the orbiting bodies that have outlived their usefulness. For almost

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<v Speaker 1>half a century now, space agencies have been instructing old

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<v Speaker 1>satellites and decommissioned vessels to crash land in a remote

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<v Speaker 1>part of the South Pacific. The area is known as

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<v Speaker 1>a spacecraft cemetery. It encompasses a geographic place of interest

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<v Speaker 1>known as Point Nemo Latin word meaning nobody, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>the furthest you can get from dry land without leaving

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<v Speaker 1>Planet Earth. It's about two thousand, five hundred miles or

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<v Speaker 1>four thousand kilometers east of New Zealand, so when a

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<v Speaker 1>doomed spacecraft is sent there, the chances of it hitting

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<v Speaker 1>a person or even a passing boat are pretty dang slim.

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<v Speaker 1>The watery grave site received its first decommissioned spacecraft in nineteen.

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<v Speaker 1>More than two hundred and sixty others have subsequently been

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<v Speaker 1>laid to rest there, with the majority being of Russian origin.

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<v Speaker 1>None can match the prestige, though, of Mirror, the Soviet

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<v Speaker 1>built precursor to the International Space Station or i s S,

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<v Speaker 1>which cruised above Earth from to two one one. Mirror

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<v Speaker 1>received instructions to land in the vicinity of Point Nemo

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<v Speaker 1>in March of two thousand one. The space station broke

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<v Speaker 1>apart in its rocky descent through Earth's atmosphere. Many components

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<v Speaker 1>burned up in the process, and the six main fragments

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<v Speaker 1>that remain are scattered across a wide expanse of sea floor.

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<v Speaker 1>Similar things happened to the European Jewels Verne spacecraft, the

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<v Speaker 1>Russian Progress cargo ship, and countless other denizens of the

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<v Speaker 1>deep sea burial ground. Come one, NASA plans to plunge

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<v Speaker 1>to the I S S into the waters of Point

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<v Speaker 1>Nemo after more than thirty years of service. NASA expects

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to operate the I S S safely

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<v Speaker 1>through the year. Of course, getting a spacecraft to land

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<v Speaker 1>anywhere takes a lot of skill and precise calculations. Space

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<v Speaker 1>agencies must remain in contact with their vessels in order

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<v Speaker 1>to send up guidance instructions. Once that degree of control

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<v Speaker 1>is lost, a craft is liable to wind up anywhere.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've lived through the Space Race, you might remember

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<v Speaker 1>how NASA's sky Lab unexpectedly crash landed in Western Australia

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy nine. By the same token, nobody knew

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<v Speaker 1>where the Chinese Tiangong one orbital lab would come to

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<v Speaker 1>rest after it stopped working properly in March of six.

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<v Speaker 1>In what the press called a near amazing coincidence, the

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<v Speaker 1>eight and a half ton Lab crash landed on April

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<v Speaker 1>one in South Pacific waters, just narrowly missing Point Nemo

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<v Speaker 1>as it fell. Today's episode is based on the article

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<v Speaker 1>Point Nemo where Spacecraft Go to Dive on houstuffworks dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Mark Mancini. Brain stuff is production of I

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks. Dot Com is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang and Ramsay Young. Four more podcasts

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