Where Do Heroic Spacecraft Go to Die?

(0:00) Open

(1:05) Point Nemo: The Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility

(4:53) The Space Graveyard

(9:30) I’m Burnin’ I’m Burnin’ For You

(13:01) What Makes It Back

(16:45) The Goldmine of the Future

(20:44) cj’s recommendation: Star Wars: Andor

(22:08) Jeff’s Recommendation: My Name Is Nobody

Humans throw out over two billion tons of garbage every day. Mostly it’s stuff we no longer need and truly don’t want to keep - good ol’ trash.  Sometimes though you just can’t keep the thing any longer, even if it is useful, even if you might want it back one day.  Think: that memory key you threw out years ago that stored the 28 Bitcoin you mined in 2012.  In these cases you really hope you can get it back.

Well, most of the things we throw into space fall into this latter category.  We can’t keep them in space, at least not easily.  And while we don’t think we want them back, they could be valuable to someone, or something in the distant future.

This episode we explore a magical place you’ve never been and you’ll almost certainly never go: Point Nemo - The Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility.  Bad news: it’s really big and really hard to get to.  Good news: it’s littered with billions of dollars worth of hardware, just sitting there. 

The Soviet spacecraft cemetery in the Pacific

A fiery end? How the ISS will end its life in orbit

Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin' For You

Watch Andor | Full Episodes | Disney+

Watch My Name is Nobody | Prime Video

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