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Maybe a different approach would be to have an automated robotic drilling "rig" on the ocean floor, which a ship could restock and maybe also power via a tether
by mjevans 7y ago
Maybe a different approach would be to have an automated robotic drilling "rig" on the ocean floor, which a ship could restock and maybe also power via a tether. As a bonus the under-sea rig could also have a data+power telemetry cable run to the shore and operations might continue even without a ship present.
- bArray 7y agoUnfortunately it doesn't seem as though automation would solve any problems regarding hole collapse. Not only this, it would probably only serve to increase running costs and introduce more failure points. They have the choice of going with well tested and understood drilling methods, compared with untested automated drilling methods.