Scientists plan to drill all the way down to the Earth's mantle

PhysOrg Mobile ^ | 25 March 2011 | Unknown

[Windflier]

(PhysOrg.com) -- In what can only be described as a mammoth undertaking, scientists, led by British co-chiefs, Dr Damon Teagle of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England and Dr Benoit Ildefonse from Montpellier University in France, have announced jointly in an article in Nature that they intend to drill a hole through the Earth’s crust and into the mantle; a feat never before accomplished, much less seriously attempted.

[Windflier]

Uh-oh. They're gonna pop a hole in da erf.

[ExpatCanuck]

Awesome! What could possibly go wrong.

[Iscool]

One can only wonder why, and whose money are they using...

[rellimpank]

-- Last but not least is the problem of atmospheric pressure, which increases the deeper you go, to somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 million pounds per square foot--

--yep--heavy atmosphere, that--

[SkyDancer]

It’ll let all the air out and we’ll go spinning off into space like a deflating balloon.

[rellimpank]

—glad they don’t plan to do it in Yellowstone Park—

[Yulee]

Sounds like Mohole back in the 1950’s and 60’s. I always wondered what happened to that effort. It's funny how things keep coming back around.

[Windflier]

One can only wonder why...

[Dr. Sivana]

Okay ... 4 million pounds per sq. foot, over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

There’s gotta be a way to put something down there that can deliver some SERIOUS geothermal/geo-pressure energy back up here.

[cripplecreek]

After the idiotic claims that the ocean floor was going to collapse under the deepwater horizon, I’ve decided that no stretch of the imagination is too far for some.

[Cyber Liberty]

Was attempted 50 years ago, but failed from lack of funding because Johnson said we weren't spending enough on welfare. I wonder how this will go with much newer technology? Probably the same: Not enough spending on welfare.

Project Mohole

[WellyP]

They stopped because they couldn’t keep the bit and drill tubing cool enough to stay together long enough to make things work.

[Windflier]

Awesome! What could possibly go wrong.

[TomServo]

[treetopsandroofs]

Several years before they can start. The Russians drilled really deep, 12 km, said it got really HOT, 260 degrees Celsius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

[DManA]

Moho

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohorovi%C4%8Di%C4%87_discontinuity

Technology wasn’t up to the ambition. Lot of advances since then.

[MarketR]

Uh oh! Not this again!

[COBOL2Java]

[Windflier]

—glad they don’t plan to do it in Yellowstone Park—

What Could Possibly Go Wrong: Deep-Drilling a Supervolcano

[Paladin2]

They planned to do this before:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mohole