$1 Billion Mission To Reach the Earth's Mantle

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$1 Billion Mission To Reach the Earth's Mantle

Posted by timothy on Tuesday October 2, 2012 @01:37AM from the because-it's-the-closest-one dept.

black6host writes "Humans have reached the moon and are planning to return samples from Mars, but when it comes to exploring the land deep beneath our feet, we have only scratched the surface of our planet. This may be about to change with a $1 billion mission to drill 6 km (3.7 miles) beneath the seafloor to reach the Earth's mantle — a 3000 km-thick layer of slowly deforming rock between the crust and the core which makes up the majority of our planet — and bring back the first ever fresh samples."

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Paging Lawrence Fishburn by DaKong · 2012-10-02 01:38 · Score: 5, Funny

Please remember to wear your heat suit when venturing outside the vessel.

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If not us, who? If not now, when?
1. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by firex726 · 2012-10-02 01:44 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Oh god that movie was so bad. IDK why people rag on Armageddon so much but we never hear anything about The Core.
2. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by MiniMike · 2012-10-02 01:56 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Because it's too easy? It's like picking on a disabled kid- it would be easy, but it's just wrong to do.
  Because it's too cheesy? Some movies approach the cheesiness boundary carefully, but don't get too close. This one seemed to leap over that line early in the movie, and just kept running for the fence.
  But mostly:
  Because one would have to admit having seen The Core?
3. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by beamdriver · 2012-10-02 02:02 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Because The Core is a fun, silly movie meant to be enjoyed with your brain in the off position.
  I particularly liked the part when they got stuck in a giant geode. The only way it could have been better would have been if there were dinosaurs in the geode.
4. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by the+eric+conspiracy · 2012-10-02 02:15 · Score: 2
  
  Any movie with Hillary Swank in it is at least 3.5 stars.
5. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by FreonTrip · 2012-10-02 02:16 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  That wasn't Lawrence Fishburne, that was Delroy Lindo. And yes, The Core is one of the most hideously inaccurate, ostensibly scientific films ever made. What galls is that the film itself isn't awful in terms of character development or plotting - it's just oriented around a series of terribly wrong fundamental assumptions, and then ties itself into progressively more ridiculous knots to support them.
  On the other hand, it is riotously funny to watch with a room full of tipsy geologists.
6. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by SilentStaid · 2012-10-02 02:26 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  On the other hand, it is riotously funny to watch with a room full of tipsy geologists.
  The problem with that is they won't shut up about how much the floor is tilting or the world is spinning... and drinking just makes it worse.
  
  /ducks
7. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by luigi517 · 2012-10-02 02:37 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  who rags on armegeddon?! I love that movie. "This is how we fix in mother russia!"
8. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by Alsee · 2012-10-02 03:09 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  How about just one dinosaur was trapped in the geode, and for the last 65 million years evolution has been turning it into an even more ferocious and deadly killing machine.
  P.S. Before anyone corrects me on evolution, I am mocking the general level of scientific accuracy of the movie.
  -
  
  --
  - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
9. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by shadowrat · 2012-10-02 04:22 · Score: 3
  
  This is probably a stupid thing to be discussing, but think about a bicycle. It takes a certain amount of energy input from you to get the thing going. Yet, it takes obviously less energy from you to make it stop. Magic of friction.
10. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by TFAFalcon · 2012-10-02 04:35 · Score: 2
  
  Replace the dinosaur with underground cannibalistic piranhas and it was already made.
11. Re:Paging Lawrence Fishburn by ByteSlicer · 2012-10-02 08:00 · Score: 2
  
  I particularly liked the part when they got stuck in a giant geode.
  That was actually the more plausible part of the movie.
Sounds fun. by Sparticus789 · 2012-10-02 01:40 · Score: 5, Funny

I wonder if by samples, they mean the live dinosaurs that inhabit hollow earth.

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sudo make me a sandwich
1. Re:Sounds fun. by Sparticus789 · 2012-10-02 03:21 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  You see, they did exist. Since the universe is only 6,000 years old, what happened is that God blinked us into existence. Realizing, in his omnipotent knowledge, that humanity would some day understand the laws of the universe which he created, He decided to create 13+ billion years of history to fool us with. So the dinosaurs did exist, just long enough for God to kill them and bury their bones, so that we would have fossils and oil. Because God decided it would be easier to create everything in 6 days instead of kicking back on his supernatural couch, sipping a beer, and watch the universe grow on it's own.
  Or, if you prefer, God could be at a gas station next to a dusty road in the middle of the desert. Where nothing is said because it has all been said.
  
  --
  sudo make me a sandwich
2. Re:Sounds fun. by jd2112 · 2012-10-02 04:14 · Score: 2
  
  "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Ben Franklin
  
  --
  Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
3. Re:Sounds fun. by fahrbot-bot · 2012-10-02 05:56 · Score: 2
  
  We have to stop this project! They'll let the MORLOCKS out!
  The Morlocks are already out. Didn't you see the Republican National Convention?
  Run and hide little Eloi. Run and hide.
  
  --
  It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Why do we have to dig our own hole? by UnresolvedExternal · 2012-10-02 01:43 · Score: 4, Interesting

Forgive my ignorance here but don't we already have this? What's wrong with using a volcano?
1. Re:Why do we have to dig our own hole? by vlm · 2012-10-02 01:57 · Score: 2
  
  Forgive my ignorance here but don't we already have this?
  Your confusion is that Kola was a lot deeper but was only about 1/3 of the way thru the crust, this is drilling thru a very thin area of the crust.
  Traditional drilling methods don't work so they gave up on Kola.
  
  --
  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
2. Re:Why do we have to dig our own hole? by tnk1 · 2012-10-02 02:27 · Score: 2
  
  They have this tendency to go off when you would prefer they didn't. More to the point, we only probably want to deal with magma when we reach the bottom end of the shaft, with a volcano, it's magma and pockets of superheated and pressurized gasses all the way down.
  Presumably, you'd want a hole that you could set up safety protocols which prevent blowouts like in an oil well, except in this case it would be pressurized gasses and even magma. For that, you probably want a clean borehole through bedrock.
3. Re:Why do we have to dig our own hole? by dywolf · 2012-10-02 02:46 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Because a volcano isnt a straight shot. Know how water flows through rock via the cracks and fissures? Same thing with a volcano, just molten rock instead of water as the fluid.
  
  --
  The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
4. Re:Why do we have to dig our own hole? by rwise2112 · 2012-10-02 03:47 · Score: 2
  
  Forgive my ignorance here but don't we already have this?
  Your confusion is that Kola was a lot deeper but was only about 1/3 of the way thru the crust, this is drilling thru a very thin area of the crust.
  Traditional drilling methods don't work so they gave up on Kola.
  Yeah. Ocean crust is a lot thinner than continental crust. And if I remember correctly, Kola is in a mountainous area where the continental crust is thicker.
  
  --
  
  "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
5. Re:Why do we have to dig our own hole? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-02 04:13 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  And here I thought it would drain the whole ocean.
6. Re:Why do we have to dig our own hole? by wiedzmin · 2012-10-02 04:32 · Score: 2
  
  You guys crack me up.
  
  --
  Bow before me, for I am root.
We must stop them! by nysus · 2012-10-02 01:45 · Score: 5, Funny

I know how this ends...with a giant sucking sound as the world's oceans drain into the earth's core. Then, as steam builds inside the planet, the earth turns into a giant exploding kernel of popcorn.

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---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
1. Re:We must stop them! by alabandit · 2012-10-02 01:54 · Score: 2
  
  I know how this ends...with a giant sucking sound as the world's oceans drain into the earth's core. Then, as steam builds inside the planet, the earth turns into a giant exploding kernel of popcorn.
  Congratulations to NASA on finding away to alleviate their funding problems! Time to buy property on the mars is now!
  
  --
  "You are still innocent until proven guilty. What's changed is what they do to innocent people." by notnAP (846325)
2. Re:We must stop them! by Zordak · 2012-10-02 02:20 · Score: 2
  
  No, you've got it all wrong. It ends with the earth being wholly consumed by lava. See this excellent documentary
  
  --
  
  Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
3. Re:We must stop them! by lordofthechia · 2012-10-02 03:06 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I know how this ends...with a giant sucking sound as the world's oceans drain into the earth's core. Then,
  The whole world gets covered in a thick layer of steam. For weeks it becomes hard to breath and see. After the steam subsides people start to wipe their fogged up windows to reveal every TV screen, every computer screen, every phone and tablet with the same message:
  STEAM: NOW AVAILABLE ON ALL PLATFORMS
  
  --
  Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
4. Re:We must stop them! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-02 03:40 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  <speculation type="wild"/>
  Ever consider if this is what happened to life on Mars? Martian life evolves, gets curious about their own planet's interior and start digging. The result?
  Shutdown of their planet's magnetosphere
  Venting a majority of their atmosphere into space
  Olympus frikkin Mons
  Enough material is ejected from the mantle to cause the crust to collapse down on it, creating the Valles Marineris
  Needless to say, the martians then pack up all of their stuff, erase any evidence of them ever being there (it's too embarassing) and move to Venus. Where they promptly melt.
5. Re:We must stop them! by arkane1234 · 2012-10-02 09:30 · Score: 2
  
  and without style.
  
  --
  -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
No but seriously by Idimmu+Xul · 2012-10-02 01:49 · Score: 2

can i vote against this?

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The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Balloon by JavaBear · 2012-10-02 01:50 · Score: 3, Funny

Lets hope the Earth crust is not a balloon...
1. Re:Balloon by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-02 03:56 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  actually, they sort of are.
2. Re:Balloon by JazzLad · 2012-10-02 04:31 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  This is why we're doing it under the ocean.
  
  --
  "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Oblig video by kerrbear · 2012-10-02 01:52 · Score: 3, Funny

Used to watch this on Saturday morning with "Superhost" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHtZ6Ixeqvs
Three words for you... by An+Onerous+Coward · 2012-10-02 01:52 · Score: 2

RELEASE THE MORLOCKS!

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You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
BAD, BAD IDEA by Type44Q · 2012-10-02 01:55 · Score: 3, Funny

Everyone knows you're supposed to enter through the poles...
Alternately... by Type44Q · 2012-10-02 01:58 · Score: 2

From TFA:

To get to the mantle scientists will be relying on a purpose-built Japanese deep-sea drilling vessel called Chikyu
Chikyu, meet Cthulhu. :p
Obligatory movie quotes by zill · 2012-10-02 02:09 · Score: 4, Informative

The humans delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame.
Diamond juice by Lev13than · 2012-10-02 02:10 · Score: 5, Interesting

"Down there," said Golg, "I could show you real gold, real silver, real diamonds."
"Bosh!" said Jill rudely. "As if we didn't know that we're below the deepest mines even here."
"Yes," said Golg. "I have heard of those little scratches in the crust that you Topdwellers call mines. But
that's where you get dead gold, dead silver, dead gems. Down in Bism we have them alive and growing.
There I'll pick you bunches of rubies that you can eat and squeeze you a cup full of diamond-juice. You
won't care much about fingering the cold, dead treasures of your shallow mines after you have tasted the
live ones of Bism."
"My father went to the world's end," said Rilian thoughtfully. "It would be a marvellous thing if his son
went to the bottom of the world."

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When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
Did this already by stewsters · 2012-10-02 02:13 · Score: 2

I did this once in dwarf fortress... Protip, it creates a lot of FUN.
*pinky* by jspenguin1 · 2012-10-02 02:40 · Score: 2

I believe it's spelled: one BIIIIIIIILLION dollars...
we have only scratched the surface by fustakrakich · 2012-10-02 02:46 · Score: 2

Yeah, and it's showing a hell of a rash for it.

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“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
They won't get very far by GodfatherofSoul · 2012-10-02 02:54 · Score: 2

Don't they remember the Inhumanoids; the evil that lies within?

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I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Pressure=rock creep : hole filled while drilling by advid.net · 2012-10-02 02:56 · Score: 2

The pressure below is so high that the creep of rock may fill back the hole as it is drilled.
Do they plan to reinforce the hole wall ?
With which material ? Even if they find one, this will make the project a lot more complicated...
Was Lake Peigneur just a small proof of concept? by Kaptain+Kruton · 2012-10-02 03:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

I know it isn't going to happen like this, but I cannot help but think of the flooded salt mine on Lake Peigneur. Some drillers miscalculated their location and drilled down, through a lake bed, into a nearby salt mine shaft. The lake was drained and temporarily reversed the flow of nearby rivers. Look it up on youtube... its kind of interesting to hear how a relatively small 14 inch drill bit can cause a disaster large enough to sink multiple barges and reverse rivers.
better probe plan: go all the way down by rubycodez · 2012-10-02 03:14 · Score: 2

Geophysicist David Stevenson of Cal Tech proposes we make a probe that rides a molten mass of iron, 10,000 cubic meters of it poured into a fissue 0.1 meter wide x 300 long x 300 meter deep, all the way to the center of the earth.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcampanian.iodp.org%2FMantleFrontier%2F12_Ojovan%2520-%2520Self_Sinking_Capsules_-_Ojovan.pdf&ei=egNrUMiMKuOeywH48YFw&usg=AFQjCNF3htj3aVkXi4Ln7xttNgFiL4TW5A&sig2=-xgVnfbwNGwtVNN6w7s_ZQ
Re:Pressure=rock creep : hole filled while drillin by vlm · 2012-10-02 04:09 · Score: 2

The real problem is the mud. So to more or less balance pressure at the bottom of the hole, you need the drilling mud to be so heavy that I really donno how to make it. Hmm a lubricating coolant with the density of aluminum that can be pumped around at sea level on the surface like water... Oh and it has to be stable around 600 degrees F (which is why they gave up on Kola). So anything other than asphalt (including teflon) will be vapor.... its just a mess.
Another fun limitation is if the bottom pressure is 10000 psi (made up) the pressure half way up is 5000 psi now can your cemented in holes survive that?
You know those engineering puzzles like from statics/dynamics class "how tall of a cylindrical flagpole can you make out of concrete / steel / CF until it buckles" well my cousins in the Louisiana petrochem industry have puzzlers like "imagine an infinite budget and you wanna dig 10 miles straight down, now write an essay explaining all the technical limitations".
Someday the tech might change to something like a vertical tunnel boring machine. Maybe thats what they're going to try. That would certainly be very interesting.

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Re:MMmmmmmm by sexconker · 2012-10-02 04:41 · Score: 2

We can finally reach the gooey jelly filling!
Any bets on what flavor it'll be?
I ated the orange jelly. It tastes like burning.
Isaac Asimov by chthon · 2012-10-02 05:22 · Score: 2

Recipe for a Planet
See also 'Project Mohole'