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HyperSciences Wants To Drill Into The Earth With A Huge Gun
.popsci.com ^
| July 23, 2015
| Dave Gershgorn
Posted on 08/05/2015 7:47:12 PM PDT by ckilmer
HyperSciences Wants To Drill Into The Earth With A Huge Gun
It’s no secret—there’s a lot of energy held just a few thousand feet under Earth’s surface. To harness any sizable amount of our planet’s underlying geothermal energy for steam power, we would have to bore more than two miles into the crust. Unfortunately, the current drilling process is prohibitively expensive for most interested parties, ranging from $5 to 20 million depending on the depth desired.
Mark Russell, CEO of Hypersciences, wants to change that. His method? Repeatedly firing projectiles into the Earth’s crust, which Russell claims is ten times faster than traditional drilling. He received a patent last year for his projectile-based system, and was recently funded about one million dollars by Shell’s GameChanger program to continue his research, according to GeekWire.
The process works by loading a projectile with a special abrasive core into a ram accelerator, which serves as both the chamber and barrel of this ‘earth gun.’ Russell’s design pumps gases into the ram accelerator, which then ignite, pressurizing the chamber as the projectile passes through. This sends the projectile into the ground at almost 4,500 miles per hour (2 km/s). At that speed, the projectile obliterates whatever unfortunate rock or sediment it hits, and the refuse is sucked back out of the hole. The projectile itself is left fairly general in the patent, but Russell postulates that it could be tipped with a plastic explosive to add more drilling power. Another option is to embed sensors to gauge temperature and exact depth.
The ram accelerator is fired over and over again, with multiple projectiles, until the desired depth is achieved; multiple ram accelerators can fire simultaneously for wider drilling or in tandem with traditional drills as well, according to the patent. Russell claims his technique saves money on tool wear and breakage, as well as the extended time traditional drilling takes. However, there are still questions surrounding how the technology will work in practice, and also what affect repeated concussive blasts could have on the sub-terrainian environment, groundwater, and geology.
The Department of Energy says that a geothermal station operating at peak levels could provide sustainable energy to 41,000 average U.S. homes. In other outside-the-box ideas, the DOE is also exploring the use of high-powered lasers to maximize the heat retained from geothermic wells.
TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: hypersciences
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To: ckilmer
21
posted on
08/05/2015 8:27:27 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
To: bgill
They made a horror movie with exactly that theme, saw it when I was a kid, can’t remember the name. A giant gun shot into the earth to do research and the crust starts to crack, and they can’t stop it.
22
posted on
08/05/2015 8:33:03 PM PDT
by
GoneSalt
To: ckilmer
The deepest ever drilled was 40,000 feet (7 1/2 miles).
23
posted on
08/05/2015 8:34:11 PM PDT
by
Repeal The 17th
(I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
To: kosciusko51
the deep question is how much it lowers costs.
24
posted on
08/05/2015 8:37:54 PM PDT
by
ckilmer
(q)
To: ckilmer
It sounds only like an advancement of the old 'pole tool' or 'cable tool' method of drilling dating back to 1850s Sarnia/Oil Springs or Pennsylvania's 'Drake Well'.
To: The Antiyuppie
I’m fascinated by Gerald Bull and the concept of a nuclear powered tungsten shell boring through our mantle. Like rescuing the P-38 on the ice shelf using melting probes.
26
posted on
08/05/2015 8:45:12 PM PDT
by
mcshot
(We have but our word and honor - 0 has 0.)
To: Williams
“Im thinking new bunker busting technology.”
Would seem like it.
To: bgill
IIRC there was a flick some 45-50 years ago with Dana Andrews as the scientist who was doing this exact operation. Despite his son in law’s warnings he fired a missile into the Great Rift. It caused a volcanic trench to open and travel across the Indian Ocean . If not stopped it would circle the globe, splitting the Earth in two. It was stopped by exploding a nuke, I think, in an inactive volcano in the trench’s path. Problem was the volcanic activity started a return to its point of origin. When it reached it the magma stream exploded and drove the mass between the two trenches into space, creating a new moon.
To: ckilmer
To harness any sizable amount of our planets underlying geothermal energy for steam power, we would have to bore more than two miles into the crust. Seems like too much effort. Why not just drop a hardened straw into an active volcano, suck on it and get all the geothermal heat you could ever want?
29
posted on
08/05/2015 10:07:34 PM PDT
by
roadcat
To: Williams
The MOP is designed to be dropped in pairs. The first one clears the way for #2 down the same hole #1 created. Don’t know why they wouldn’t drop #3, #4, and #5 down the same hole.
30
posted on
08/05/2015 10:23:06 PM PDT
by
ProtectOurFreedom
(For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
To: roadcat
volcanos are generally in inconvenient places
31
posted on
08/06/2015 12:15:18 AM PDT
by
ckilmer
(q)
To: BenLurkin
“The Core”: One of my all time favorite science fiction movies on the subject, I greatly appreciate the story line, the tech and the level of self sacrifice on the part of the crew for “the mission”.
32
posted on
08/06/2015 2:59:52 AM PDT
by
Jmouse007
(Almighty Jehovah, deliver us from this evil, in Jesus name, amen.)
To: ckilmer
Good question. With mud motors and bit technology we drill 10,000 ft. in a week to 10 days, including running intermediate and surface casing. It is going to be hard to ‘shoot’ to that depth, and what is going to control the formation fluids if they do?
33
posted on
08/06/2015 3:10:03 AM PDT
by
Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
To: Smokin' Joe
Maybe it would be "drilled" in stages, with casing added at each stage. But then you'd have to lower the gun down the bottom of the hole at each stage.
This project has a long way to go.
34
posted on
08/06/2015 3:16:54 AM PDT
by
St_Thomas_Aquinas
( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
To: ckilmer
Just to tick-off the moonbats they should name it....
NRA-1 ...
35
posted on
08/06/2015 6:23:25 AM PDT
by
JEDI4S
(I don't mean to cause trouble...it just happens naturally through the Force!)
To: Smokin' Joe
Good question. With mud motors and bit technology we drill 10,000 ft. in a week to 10 days, including running intermediate and surface casing. It is going to be hard to shoot to that depth, and what is going to control the formation fluids if they do?
.............
Who kmows? But since Shell sprang for a million you have to believe that they are thinking that this could/might/maybe collapse drilling costs.
Its a moon shot. Only aimed at the earth.
However, one thing they do say is that the velocities are so great that the ground liquifies where it comes in contact with the projectile and then squirts up the drill hole. As would happen with a meteor strike.
36
posted on
08/06/2015 8:06:02 AM PDT
by
ckilmer
(q)
To: Smokin' Joe
It is going to be hard to shoot to that depth,
.........
according to the article to get to the required depth —they shoot more than one shell—or however many it takes where each shell punches deeper
37
posted on
08/06/2015 8:08:39 AM PDT
by
ckilmer
(q)
To: ckilmer
Repeatedly firing projectiles into the Earths crust, which Russell claims is ten times faster than traditional drilling. Nonsense.
They don't just need a hole. They need a borehole with the material removed, not the material jammed into the sides so tightly than nothing will flow out. That defeats the whole purpose in having a well.
38
posted on
08/06/2015 10:36:41 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: St_Thomas_Aquinas; Smokin' Joe
The horizontal lateral at the end is going to be challenge as well.
39
posted on
08/06/2015 10:43:02 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
Maybe it would be "drilled" in stages, with casing added at each stage. Wouldn't setting casing each stage require some type of rig in place?
40
posted on
08/06/2015 11:06:42 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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