What's Point Nemo and why the ISS will crash there?
What's the story
The International Space Station (ISS) has been a symbol of human ingenuity and scientific progress for 25 years. But now, NASA and its partners are preparing for its deorbiting at the end of 2030. The ISS will be brought down over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, known as the "spacecraft cemetery," located near Point Nemo. This location was chosen due to its remoteness from land, minimizing any risk to people or infrastructure on Earth.
Spacecraft cemetery
What is the location of Point Nemo?
Point Nemo is a remote oceanic location in the Pacific, some 2,688km away from the nearest landmass. The remoteness of this place has made it a popular choice among mission planners who have deorbited several hundred large spacecraft there over the decades. This way, they ensure that falling debris doesn't pose any threat to people or infrastructure on Earth.
Reentry plan
How will ISS break up during reentry?
NASA engineers have detailed a three-step breakup sequence for the ISS during its reentry. This includes solar array and radiator separation first, followed by intact module and truss segment breakup/separation, and finally individual module fragmentation. They expect most of the station's hardware to burn up or vaporize during atmospheric re-entry. However, some denser or heat-resistant components like truss sections are likely to survive reentry and splash down in an uninhabited region of the ocean.
Controlled descent
ISS deorbiting will be similar to Russia's Mir space station
The deorbiting of the ISS will be a controlled process, with a modified version of SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule being used to guide it down. This is similar to how Russia steered down its Mir space station in March 2001. The ISS is much larger than Mir, measuring as long as a football field and weighing around 460 tons.