6 ms·
Would it not be easier to build this in the ocean?
by vorticalbox 2y ago
Would it not be easier to build this in the ocean?
- ceejayoz 2y agoThe always moving, corrosively salty ocean?
- HPsquared 2y agoHow about under the ocean?
- ceejayoz 2y agoWe can barely even drill small holes for oil and gas down there, let alone a planet-spanning tunnel with maintenance access.
- farseer 2y agoIf building something so large, you would start drilling down on the shore and then sideways underneath the water as far as necessary. It would be unwise to drill using a rig on the ocean itself. Drilling on the moon is well a moon shot...
- CuriousCosmic 2y agoIt's really hard to explain just how much more difficult that is. This would require digging extraordinarily deep. At that depth temperatures and pressures are absurd. You'd have to be able to keep whatever tunnel you dig from collapsing due to the pressure without causing saltwater incursion. To be entirely honest I don't think we even have the technology to do this on earth. In space it's feasible but expensive and time consuming but on earth, under the ocean in particular we probably don't even have the technology yet to make that an option regardless of how absurd. And at that point you might as well just tunnel under solid ground instead. It'd be far easier and at least potentially achievable. But that's exactly why TFA is proposing a lunar collider instead as it'd be cheaper and more feasible than one that is underground on earth.
- farseer 2y agoWell I was thinking channel tunnel deep, not Mariana trench deep. I am assuming the collider would sufficely work underneath shallow waters.
- skywhopper 2y agoI’m going to guess it’s still easier than building it on the Moon, where we have notably less drilling capability and the conditions are significantly harsher. Not to mention the cost of equipment transfer.
- ceejayoz 2y agoIIRC more people have spent longer on the the Moon than the bottom of places like the Marianas Trench. Managing 0-1 atmosphere variation is very different than 1-400. The deep ocean (and deep crust you’d have to go through in spots if you want it to circle the Earth) are extremely hostile to humans.
- onetokeoverthe 2y ago[dead]
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Would it not be easier to build this in the ocean? The Moon is a natural vacuum. That presumably simplifies some design elements. And as the paper mentions, the lunar night is naturally at superconducting temperatures: no cooling required.
- usrbinbash 2y ago> The Moon is a natural vacuum. The moon is also naturally covered in microabrasive, statically charged dust, that will happily annihilate any piece of equipment we put there, that is more complex than a lunar rover from the early 70s, in a matter of days.