Latest Project Mohole Stories

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The Mars Curiosity rover is sending data and pictures to Earth from Mars every day with only a 14 minute delay, a monumental feat of human accomplishment. Yet, for all our research into the stars, there remains a great deal of discovery to be had here on Earth, particularly below the surface. Now, a global team of drillers, geologists and other scientists and researchers plan to spend $1 billion to go the other way, deep into the...

Researchers are hoping to attempt to drill into the Earth's mantle layer off the coast of Costa Rica in hopes of finding pristine samples of the earth's inner boundary, BBC News reports. With initial bore holes to reach 1.2 miles under the seabed to test equipment and techniques, the ultimate goal is to reach even further to retrieve deeper samples. It is estimated that at the chosen location, a drill must be able to reach almost 4 miles under the sea floor to reach the upper mantle. Drilling...

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), in collaboration with industry partner AGR Drilling Services, has engineered an ultra-deepwater drilling technology for use by IODP drilling vessels in scientific research. Originally developed for shallow-water oil and gas exploration, the "riserless mud recovery" technology (RMRâ„¢) holds great promise for scientists striving to reach the long-held goal of Project Mohole in the 1950s: drilling all the way through ocean crust into...

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The small gray and black rocks stored in 3-foot-long clear plastic tubes at a Texas A&M University lab could be mistaken for the leftovers after a kitchen countertop installation.But the surprisingly heavy pebbles are much more significant. They're part of the only intact section of oceanic crust ever recovered, pulled from beneath the Pacific Ocean by geologists drilling more than a mile into the sea floor.Scientists hope this latest effort in the...