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Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Wells, Tunnels and drilling shaft bored in the ground

Do we have a drilling for * whatever * topic?

Boreholes or drilling gives mixed search results, topics about MERs on Mars, NASA or Soviet samples on the Moon, topics about China or other NASA / JPL Rovers or topics about politics and wars and the price of oil even a fringe topic about restarting the Mars 'Core'. On our planet Earth drilling rigs can be small enough to be moved or massive structures, Drill-Rigs can be massive structures housing people and robotics and equipment used to drill water wells, oil wells, or gas extraction wells. A deep drill is susceptible to corrosion and crack, a very deep drilling is likely to have super heating issues. I'm not sure if the Moon of Earth can be done but NASA / JPL have worked on an automated robot drill for Mars. As part of a geotechnical engineering solution a special fluid, also known as drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes. There was something of a drilling 'space race' in the ColdWar, the Project Mohole by the United States to drill through the Earth's crust to obtain samples of the Mohorovičić discontinuity, or Moho, in the USSR or Russia there was Kola Superdeep Borehole the deepest borehole 12,262 metres or 40,230 ft or  7.619 mi. If humans one day go to world like Titan drilling might not be a priority as Mars,  Titan has a lot of atmosphere and hydrocarbons, drilling down may not be important, it is also a very cold world when compared to Mars. We will assume we have enough power and there is a nearby Nuclear Reactor to provide power in outer space, Asteroid drilling may also be a thing.

An operation on the Lunar surface could be difficult. On the Moon we may have to drill down deep. The Poles of Earth's Moon has some of the coldest places known, the Moon's daytime comes with its own problems, you are cooked, it starts difficult because near surface temperature of getting cooked hotter than an 'Oven' however since the Moon's interior is cool-ish compared with Earth it is possible one could drill right into the center of the Moon.

On Earth we have drilled and mined and made artificial tunnels and caves since ancient times, in recent times drilled down for a propaganda 'feat' we sometimes drill down for scientific investigation but it is mostly done for oils, or subsurface water or brine, natural gas, or making profit in the petroleum industry.

Looking for water or life on Ganymede, and Callisto is another opportunity and Saturn's moons Enceladus is thought to have Planetary oceanography. The world of Titania a moon of Uranus and Triton moon of Neptune are also expected to have 'Lakes', some Kuiper Blet Objects or Trans Neptune objects such as 'Gonggong' or 'Orcus' and its moon Vanth could have internal heat with a water–ammonia mix.

On Mars we might drill horizontal for caves and tubes, we might down for heat, to look for hydrocarbons.

On the world of 'Europa' which has features more like a planet than a Moon we might have to melt down or drill down deeper than we have ever drilled on our planet Earth before a Submarine gets into a narrow tube to explore. It is assumed an Astronuat or Robot on Europa would be drilling down through mostly ice but there may be stony material, there is also an issue of high radiation at the surface  of Europa.

Ceres' exploration could benefit from techniques learned from Earth-based deep scientific drilling

A thread there has a somewhat related discussion

'Tunnel Transportation on Earth, Mars or Luna'
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9843

'Planetary Cores and potentials for geothermal power'
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=8992

From 2004
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1587
'Drilling for Water - Starting with a probe, not an ERV'

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-12-26 21:19:12)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,382

Re: Wells, Tunnels and drilling shaft bored in the ground

For Mars_B4_Moon ....

In answer to your question about topics...

Wells, Tunnels and drilling shaft bored in the ground by Mars_B4_Moon
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    0    Today 21:15:53 by Mars_B4_Moon
Microwave Drill Technology by tahanson43206
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    7    2023-12-21 09:29:04 by tahanson43206
Drilling Costs By Depth by Terraformer
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    2    2023-09-02 17:16:01 by kbd512

My topic was (is) about a very specific technology that is new on the scene, and still in development.

Terraformer's topic seemed to be very specific about costs of drilling.

Your new topic appears to be more inclusive, and hopefully it will serve others who wish to contribute posts about drilling on Earth, or anywhere.

(th)