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I hate to play the Cassandra again, but the deepest hole ever drilled by anyone was 7Km (edit: 12Km), a far cry from drilling 20Km holes everywhere on the earth

I hate to play the Cassandra again, but the deepest hole ever drilled by anyone was 7Km (edit: 12Km), a far cry from drilling 20Km holes everywhere on the earth. I’ve worked in oil and gas for over 10 years, including on the largest rotary drilling rig in North America, and it is insane what kind of machinery it takes to get 6,000 feet down and push a tool 15,000 feet out. Just as insane is convincing anyone that your drilling activities aren’t causing earthquakes, screwing up water tables, or leaking gas and other chemicals out of the ground. I still hope it works lol!

goodpoint 4y ago
> earthquakes, screwing up water tables, or leaking gas and other chemicals out of the ground You seem to be describing fracking which is a completely different technology.
- totalview 4y ago
  Actually, I’m describing peoples misconceptions and fears to any process that penetrates deep below ground for resources (energy included). The general public will always be bringing up perceived or real dangers to drilling that deep (as they should, there is a lot of dangerous chemicals and radioactive materials that come from large well bores).
D_Alex 4y ago
>the deepest hole ever drilled by anyone was 7Km 12.2 km - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole
- tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
  And that was over three decades ago, you'd kind of expect technology to advance a bit in that time.
idiotsecant 4y ago
The whole point is that microwave ablation of these materials does not require drilling mud and is self-stabilizing by the pressures and molten material generated, while also sealing the bore hole and preventing quite a lot of water table, H2S, etc contamination. In theory it should allow substantially deeper boreholes. The technology is real, and the required power density is surprisingly low. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286571247_Penetrating_rock_with_intense_millimeter-waves https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286571247_Penetrati...
- FounderBurr 4y ago
  Vaporized into what? Something that you’ll have to keep heated to 5000c for 20km until you can vent it?
  - scotty79 4y ago
    Apparently that's what they intend. I wonder how you can keep 20km oven warm enough.
  - DustinGadal 4y ago
    They'll be pumping neutral gas (probably N2 or argon) to purge the borehole. I would expect the ablated material to resolidify as fine particulate, which would get carried to the surface at ambient temperature and trapped in a filter. A 20km borehole with a 10cm diameter is only ~157m3 of rock. If the dig takes four weeks (which would be unprecedentedly fast), you only need to purge ~64cm3/s, which is pretty trivial. They'll need to do something like mix the dust into concrete. Silicate dust is a respiratory hazard. But that doesn't strike me as a significant hurdle.
Animats 4y ago
Ah, good. Someone from the drilling industry. Has anyone ever tried microwave drilling? Using gyrotrons to generate enough microwave power to cut and weld glass has supposedly been tried. The company that was doing it seems to have disappeared.[1] Ticker symbol changed from GYTI to GYTIE, indicating failure to file financial statements, and the stock price went to zero. They were talking about this as a precision heat source, like a laser cutter. That would be useful. But apparently it didn't work out. It seems a big stretch to take that technology from nowhere to something you can push down a drill hole. That's close to the toughest application. You'd expect industrial applications first. Now, if you could make that technology work, there's a cool application. This August, NASA is sending a probe to the asteroid Psyche, which supposedly has large amounts of heavy metals, possibly including gold.[2] If NASA finds valuable metals, there will be serious interest in asteroid mining. If you want to mine an asteroid, you need cutting tools. But you don't have any useful gravity to hold them to the surface. So, drilling with some kind of energy beam looks worth the trouble. Might be the killer app for gyrotron drilling. [1] https://www.gyrotrontech.com/gyrotron/ https://www.gyrotrontech.com/gyrotron/ [1] https://www.nasa.gov/psyche https://www.nasa.gov/psyche
- throwaway22032 4y ago
  Wouldn't the energy beam push you away from the surface just as well? I get that you don't need to exert torque, but you'd need to stabilise it somehow.
  - JohnHaugeland 4y ago
    > Wouldn't the energy beam push you away from the surface just as well? do you believe lasers have thrust? you could cut through a planet with a laser and still not lift a one ounce weight off the ground with the "push back" laser ablation is the result of heat, not force
    - lordofgibbons 4y ago
      >do you believe lasers have thrust? Absolutely. How do you think solar sails work? Light has inertia. If you emit large amounts of energy with any form of light, you'll get a thrust.

goodpoint 4y ago

> earthquakes, screwing up water tables, or leaking gas and other chemicals out of the ground You seem to be describing fracking which is a completely different technology.

totalview 4y ago
Actually, I’m describing peoples misconceptions and fears to any process that penetrates deep below ground for resources (energy included). The general public will always be bringing up perceived or real dangers to drilling that deep (as they should, there is a lot of dangerous chemicals and radioactive materials that come from large well bores).

D_Alex 4y ago

>the deepest hole ever drilled by anyone was 7Km 12.2 km - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
And that was over three decades ago, you'd kind of expect technology to advance a bit in that time.

idiotsecant 4y ago

The whole point is that microwave ablation of these materials does not require drilling mud and is self-stabilizing by the pressures and molten material generated, while also sealing the bore hole and preventing quite a lot of water table, H2S, etc contamination. In theory it should allow substantially deeper boreholes. The technology is real, and the required power density is surprisingly low. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286571247_Penetrating_rock_with_intense_millimeter-waves https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286571247_Penetrati...

FounderBurr 4y ago
Vaporized into what? Something that you’ll have to keep heated to 5000c for 20km until you can vent it?
- scotty79 4y ago
  Apparently that's what they intend. I wonder how you can keep 20km oven warm enough.
- DustinGadal 4y ago
  They'll be pumping neutral gas (probably N2 or argon) to purge the borehole. I would expect the ablated material to resolidify as fine particulate, which would get carried to the surface at ambient temperature and trapped in a filter. A 20km borehole with a 10cm diameter is only ~157m3 of rock. If the dig takes four weeks (which would be unprecedentedly fast), you only need to purge ~64cm3/s, which is pretty trivial. They'll need to do something like mix the dust into concrete. Silicate dust is a respiratory hazard. But that doesn't strike me as a significant hurdle.

Animats 4y ago

Ah, good. Someone from the drilling industry. Has anyone ever tried microwave drilling? Using gyrotrons to generate enough microwave power to cut and weld glass has supposedly been tried. The company that was doing it seems to have disappeared.[1] Ticker symbol changed from GYTI to GYTIE, indicating failure to file financial statements, and the stock price went to zero. They were talking about this as a precision heat source, like a laser cutter. That would be useful. But apparently it didn't work out. It seems a big stretch to take that technology from nowhere to something you can push down a drill hole. That's close to the toughest application. You'd expect industrial applications first. Now, if you could make that technology work, there's a cool application. This August, NASA is sending a probe to the asteroid Psyche, which supposedly has large amounts of heavy metals, possibly including gold.[2] If NASA finds valuable metals, there will be serious interest in asteroid mining. If you want to mine an asteroid, you need cutting tools. But you don't have any useful gravity to hold them to the surface. So, drilling with some kind of energy beam looks worth the trouble. Might be the killer app for gyrotron drilling. [1] https://www.gyrotrontech.com/gyrotron/ https://www.gyrotrontech.com/gyrotron/ [1] https://www.nasa.gov/psyche https://www.nasa.gov/psyche

throwaway22032 4y ago
Wouldn't the energy beam push you away from the surface just as well? I get that you don't need to exert torque, but you'd need to stabilise it somehow.
- JohnHaugeland 4y ago
  > Wouldn't the energy beam push you away from the surface just as well? do you believe lasers have thrust? you could cut through a planet with a laser and still not lift a one ounce weight off the ground with the "push back" laser ablation is the result of heat, not force
  - lordofgibbons 4y ago
    >do you believe lasers have thrust? Absolutely. How do you think solar sails work? Light has inertia. If you emit large amounts of energy with any form of light, you'll get a thrust.