Ambitious $1 Billion Project Aims to Drill A Hole All the Way to Earth's Mantle
Chikyu and Mt. Fuji IODPIn three possible ocean locations, the planet's crust may be thin enough for a drill to penetrate all the way through. With enough money and enough moxie, scientists operating gigantic ocean-based drills could penetrate into the Earth's mantle by the early 2020s, returning samples that could hold clues to our planet's origins. The effort to reach into the heart of the Earth would be one of the most dramatic undertakings in science. Drilling through the Earth's comparatively thin crust to reach its innards would require getting through at least 3.7 miles of seafloor, which requires safely mooring a huge ship above the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean. The hole would be just 30 centimeters (about a foot) in diameter. The effort could take at least $1 billion, which hasn't been raised yet. The good news is that the would-be mantle explorer, the Japanese research vessel Chikyu, has...