# The $1 billion mission to reach the Earth's mantle



## FordGT90Concept (Oct 2, 2012)

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/tech/mantle-earth-drill-mission/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

They want fresh samples of the mantle's magma to study.  I just hope that they are prepared to deal with the enormous pressures once they punch the mantle and don't create the first man-made volcano in the middle of an ocean.


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## NC37 (Oct 2, 2012)

This is when someone comes forward with a death star looking device and says..."Pipes are for suckers! Let me do it!"


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## cadaveca (Oct 2, 2012)

$1 billion isn't sufficient funds. Try like $30 billion.


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## Steevo (Oct 2, 2012)

You miss the point, we start it with a shoestring budget and then run back to uncle sam like paupers in our private jets every time we need more. 


All the while claiming that we are making republican jobs by hiring illegal immigrants and purchasing imported tooling. 


Cigars and scotch are needed items out of the 15% petty cash allocation right?


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## Disparia (Oct 2, 2012)

I'll undercut at $950m _AND_ bring my own shovels.


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## Steevo (Oct 2, 2012)

I see you there Ford, cmon, take the bait.


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## FordGT90Concept (Oct 2, 2012)

Neva!


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## 3870x2 (Oct 2, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/tech/mantle-earth-drill-mission/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
> 
> They want fresh samples of the mantle's magma to study.  I just hope that they are prepared to deal with the enormous pressures once they punch the mantle and don't create the first man-made volcano in the middle of an ocean.



Maybe Apple could donate the $1b in damages they received from Samsung for this project.


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## WhiteLotus (Oct 2, 2012)

Thought the Russians were already doing this?


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## Frick (Oct 2, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/tech/mantle-earth-drill-mission/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
> 
> They want fresh samples of the mantle's magma to study.  I just hope that they are prepared to deal with the enormous pressures once they punch the mantle and don't create the first man-made volcano in the middle of an ocean.



Im sure they didnt. Scientist are unreliable.


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## trickson (Oct 2, 2012)

Steevo said:


> You miss the point, we start it with a shoestring budget and then run back to uncle sam like paupers in our private jets every time we need more.
> 
> 
> All the while claiming that we are making republican jobs by hiring illegal immigrants and purchasing imported tooling.
> ...



You got this right!


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## Steevo (Oct 2, 2012)

Frick said:


> Im sure they didnt. Scientist are unreliable.



And they don't know anything too. Why I haven't seen no warming in the winter or cooling in the summer in a coons age.


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## 3870x2 (Oct 2, 2012)

Aren't there untold mythical horrors in the center of the earth?

This releases the Titans.


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## natr0n (Oct 2, 2012)

I hope they don't drill into hell.


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## Drone (Oct 2, 2012)

WhiteLotus said:


> Thought the Russians were already doing this?



Yup, Kola Superdeep Borehole 12.2 km. However that record was beaten.* Temperatures at that depth reached 180 °C which made further drilling ... umm unpractical. They were really *bored*, lol.

*edit: nah, it wasn't.


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## Kreij (Oct 2, 2012)

Drone said:


> Yup, Kola Superdeep Borehole 12.2 km. However that record was beaten.* Temperatures at that depth reached 180 °C which made further drilling ... umm unpractical. They were really *bored*, lol.
> 
> *edit: nah, it wasn't.



[quote="From linked article on wiki]In 1983, the drill passed 12,000 m (39,000 ft), and *drilling was stopped for about a year to celebrate the event*[/quote]

That's quite the party.


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## trickson (Oct 2, 2012)

Personally I do not think that we could even make it to the core as the pressure and heat would turn anything we have to a melted gooey mass of useless crap. And even if they did manage to get there there is nothing to stop all that pressure from blasting through and creating a man made volcano! I do not see this happening at all really.


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## Drone (Oct 2, 2012)

Kreij said:


> That's quite the party.



 Well said.

I wonder about radiation levels there ...


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## 3870x2 (Oct 2, 2012)

Kreij said:


> That's quite the party.



They couldn't continue the project as the engineers got drunk and fell into the hole.


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## Kreij (Oct 2, 2012)

If you read through the Wiki entries on these drillings, 6km is a nit if they can deal with the heat.
People have already drilled 10km (relative vertical) in 60 days.
It will be in the ocean though, so that's a bit tricky.

Re : Party
When TPU hits 100k members we should have a year long party.


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## Drone (Oct 2, 2012)

Found some other stuff:



> Geothermal gradient is the rate of increasing temperature with respect to increasing depth in the Earth's interior. Away from tectonic plate boundaries, it is about 25°C per km of depth (1°F per 70 feet of depth) in most of the world. The Earth's internal heat comes from a combination of residual heat from planetary accretion (about 20%) and heat produced through radioactive decay (80%). The major heat-producing isotopes in the Earth are potassium-40, uranium-238, uranium-235, and thorium-232.



So it's potassium-40, uranium-238, uranium-235, and thorium-232 to blame *shakes fist*


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## Deleted member 3 (Oct 2, 2012)

Nooooo!!! Idiots. The earth is like a balloon, if you make a hole it'll be the end of everything.


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## punisher186 (Oct 2, 2012)

I'd like to see more deep-sea exploration also, very interesting creatures in the abyssopelagic layer (4,000 to 6,000m)  Xenophyophores, the largest single-celled organisms known live in the deepest part of the ocean.


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## Steevo (Oct 2, 2012)

The lack of "drilling" jokes in this thread makes me question the sexuality of many. 


I will start, I drilled their mom deeper than that last night.


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## Kreij (Oct 2, 2012)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Nooooo!!! Idiots. The earth is like a balloon, if you make a hole it'll be the end of everything.



That's quite possible. I don't think it would be the end of everything, but it would make for a cool TV show ... for awhile anyway.


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## 3870x2 (Oct 2, 2012)

punisher186 said:


> I'd like to see more deep-sea exploration also, very interesting creatures in the abyssopelagic layer (4,000 to 6,000m)  Xenophyophores, the largest single-celled organisms known live in the deepest part of the ocean.



This also interests me.


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## bostonbuddy (Oct 3, 2012)

seismic data along w/ studies of rocks at high pressures/temp gives us a clear enough view of the mantle especially the very top, the only real ineresting area is the core mantle boundry


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## DannibusX (Oct 3, 2012)

Just wait until they discover that the Earth is actually hollow, and there is a race of beings that eat rocks and shit oil.


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## BumbleBee (Oct 3, 2012)

a classic lol

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814/


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## manofthem (Oct 3, 2012)

BumbleBee said:


> a classic lol
> 
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814/



I'm surprised it took this long before The Core was brought up


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## Irony (Oct 3, 2012)

I dont see why they think its going to take so long; the silly russians have drilled 40,000 ft on land in 2 months, but they're going through just 18,000 or so and predict they wont be done till 2020?

Also, I read world oil magazine, found this talking about first plans for this same well: http://www.worldoil.com/Plans_unveiled_to_drill_worlds_deepest_well.html


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## Frick (Oct 3, 2012)

Steevo said:


> The lack of "drilling" jokes in this thread makes me question the sexuality of many.
> 
> 
> I will start, I drilled their mom deeper than that last night.



Yes, because telling bad jokes about sex is the one Gaytest we have and need.


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## NinkobEi (Oct 3, 2012)

I hope Brendan Frasier gets cast as the first man to go through all the crust. Really though, it's just the mantle.. thats what, 20 miles? I drive further than that on my way to work each day! How they plan to keep the magma from shooting up through the hole they just made is going to be interesting. 

Side note, did anyone see Total Recall where they had the elevator through the earth from australia to england? kinda neat I must say...


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## 3870x2 (Oct 3, 2012)

This is pretty exciting.  While we can make very good decisions on data that we already know, these are not concrete fact.

We could actually be very wrong with what is at the center of Earth, if the unknowns have their way anyway.


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## Irony (Oct 3, 2012)

So, the highway to hell is being built. Brilliant. Maybe we can make an artificial supervolcano? 'We've been needing a new island'


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## Morgoth (Oct 3, 2012)

hmm?


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## punisher186 (Oct 3, 2012)

Lord Kinbote was from the center of the Earth.


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## Phusius (Oct 3, 2012)

CNN reporting in, the device is near the core now... yes it is almost done...  wait something unexpected has happened, the Earth is spinning the other way /CHAOS  lolol


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