The 20 Loneliest Outposts At The End Of The World

The 20 Loneliest Outposts At The End Of The World


When humanity’s not trying to destroy itself, its steadily redefining its boundaries. Every passing year, we create further-flung outposts in places nature never intended to us to inhabit. Here are the loneliest places mankind has made its bed in search of the unknown, the overwhelming and the great.

The Salomon August Andrée’s Station at Danskøya, Svalbard, Norway, c1900


Photo: Library Of Congress


A Buddhist shrine at the Chang La pass, with an altitude of 5360m near Leh in Ladakh, India


Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images


The Tektite I habitat, an underwater laboratory, located in Great Lameshur Bay, Saint John, US Virgin Islands in 1969


Photo: OAR/National Undersea Research Program


The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, 1979


Photo: Commander John Bortniak/NOAA Corps


The Hydrolab research station of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands (1970-1985)


Photo: OAR/National Undersea Research Program


Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, Belgium’s zero-emission polar research station anchored on the granite ridge of Utsteinen Nunatak, Dronning Maud Land, East-Antarctica


Photo: René Robert/International Polar Foundation


The Monte Rosa Hut, at an altitude of 2795m, owned by the Swiss Alpine Club


Photo: twiga269


The French-Italian Concordia research station in Antarctica, built on an ice plateau 3200m high in one of the most remote places on Earth


Photo: A. Kumar/ESA/IPEV/PNRA


The NASA Radome at the McMurdo Station, Antarctica


Photo: Alan Light


India’s brand new Antarctic Station called ‘Bharati’


Photo: Bof Architekten


Summit Station, a small US National Science Foundation research centre situated 3200m above sea level, on Greenland


Photo: Brennan Linsley/AP


The Northeast Science Station near Chersky, Northern Siberia, Russia


Photo: Arthur Max/AP


The Mauna Loa Observatory sits on the north flank of Mauna Loa volcano at an elevation of 3396 meters above sea level in Hawaii


Photo: Chris Stewart/AP


The Schneefernerhaus, a former hotel in the Alps, now an environmental research station. It lies immediately below the summit of the Zugspitze at a height of 2650m


Photo: Sir James/Wikimedia Commons


The NOAA Aquarius Reef Base located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, adjacent to Conch Reef


Photo: NASA/NEEMO


Porer is one of 11 lighthouses available for rent on the eastern Adriatic


Photo: Darko Bandic/AP


The IceCube laboratory at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station


Photo: Sven Lidstrom/National Science Foundation


The late Mir Space Station (as viewed from the Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-63)


Photo: NASA


The recently opened Halley VI Modular Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf, in northwest Antarctica


Photo: British Antarctic Survey


The International Space Station (ISS) (taken from STS-119 Space Shuttle Discovery)


Photo: NASA


Know of any that we missed? Post it in the comments!


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.