Table of contents:
- The most unusual place in the world's oceans
- A real graveyard of lost ships
- The place where one miracle ends and another begins
- Interesting facts about the mysterious blind spot
Video: What secrets does Point Nemo keep - the most mysterious place on Earth, which has become a cemetery of spaceships
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Point Nemo is the most remote place on Earth from land. As you might guess, it was named after the well-known captain from the novel by Jules Verne. The perfect place to hide a spaceship. It was here, under the waters of the Pacific Ocean, that the ships found their last resting place, plowing the vast expanses of our Universe. Surprising facts about the lifeless pole of inaccessibility, where the cemetery of the dead ships was arranged, further in the review.
The most unusual place in the world's oceans
In the South Pacific, there is a place unlike anything else on our planet. Scientists call this place - point Nemo. By and large, this is not such a point, but rather a vast area, with an area of 37 million square kilometers. It is removed from the land for more than two thousand kilometers.
Studies of point Nemo have shown that this is a real dead desert from the point of view of a marine biologist. “It's amazing that here we found about 30% fewer microorganisms in the near-surface waters than elsewhere. This is possibly the lowest ever measured in the surface waters of the entire oceans,”says microbiologist Bernhard Fuchs.
Several factors contribute to this lifelessness. First, the vast distances to land and the great depths of the ocean. It is the close-located land and bottom that are the main sources of nutrients for all marine life. Secondly, point Nemo is isolated from the rest of the ocean by strong currents. They also impede the supply of essential substances for life. Finally, a powerful stream of ultraviolet radiation falls on the surface layers from above.
Because of its isolation, point Nemo has become a graveyard for spaceships. All spacecraft are flooded here, which, due to their size, cannot completely burn up in the atmosphere. The Soviet Mir space station, more than 140 Russian supply vehicles, several European Space Agency cargo ships and even a SpaceX rocket rest at great depths.
A real graveyard of lost ships
When the famous and incredibly huge Soviet station Mir fell into the water in 2001, the Spaceship Cemetery became its final resting place. The funeral did not go gracefully. The ship originally weighed 143 tons, but only 20 tons made it to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. And what was left was broken into about six parts.
Most of the dead ships are from Russia. About 200 units of galactic debris lying on the ocean floor. The next major visitor to point Nemo will be the International Space Station. They plan to bury her here in 2028. In order not to cause undue disturbance to the marine inhabitants, they will try to divide this colossus into parts.
What else is down there, at a depth of a thousand kilometers? Scientists say there are many spy satellites, fuel tanks and hundreds of cargo spacecraft. There seems to be a place for everyone here.
The place where one miracle ends and another begins
This fantastic starship dump is actually surprisingly practical. After all, everyone knows that what flew up must certainly fall down. The force of gravity gives a guarantee that everything that has fallen into heaven will return home sooner or later. And it doesn't matter whether people like it or not. Therefore, scientists have developed a similar plan for the disposal of dead spaceships, as far as possible from human habitats.
Burial is carried out with all the necessary precautions, after having carried out a whole system of calculations. Calculations are made with the utmost care, but not everything can always be taken into account. And yet here spacecraft can be relatively safe without disturbing anyone. Nevertheless, it is time for humanity to think that everything in the world is finite. There will come a time when there will be no room left here either.
Interesting facts about the mysterious blind spot
The famous American science fiction writer, author of mystical works, which were even singled out by literary critics as an independent subgenre "Lovecraft horrors", Howard Lovecraft in his story "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926) wrote about the point Nemo. It is strange that the writer, to the nearest degree, indicated the place where the monster from his novel dwells. Another science fiction writer, Jules Verne, also developed the action in the area. It was here that the unsociable Captain Nemo loved to live.
In 1992, the Croatian engineer and researcher Hrvoje Lukatela decided to determine the most remote and inaccessible point on the globe. According to his calculations, it turned out to be 48 degrees 52 minutes south latitude and 123 degrees 23 minutes west longitude. Quite close to Cthulhu's lair. But the engineer turned out to be an admirer of another writer - Jules Verne. Therefore, I decided to call this place point Nemo.
The Oceanic Point of Inaccessibility is where the miracle of space travel collides with harsh reality. They must go home. The only thing is that the ocean floor is very similar to the environment that they had to leave. Space stations, satellites, which have become twisted pieces of metal, plunge into the cold abyss of another space …
If you are interested in environmental issues, read our article why Iceland has been shaking lately, and how it threatens Russia and the rest of the world.
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