Can we dig a deep hole all the way to the Earth's mantle?

If your family took you on a vacation to the seashore when you were a small child, you probably remember the exhilarating feeling of digging into the wet sand with a plastic shovel. As the hole got bigger and deeper, you naturally wondered what would happen if you just kept digging and digging. How deep could you get? read more

If the Chikyu's drill rig breaks through a transitional boundary called the Moho, it would reach the Earth's mantle, the mysterious 1,740-mile (2,900-kilometer) thick layer between the crust and the planet's hot, molten core [sources: USGS, ScienceDaily]. read more

Researchers can also lower a string of temperature sensors into the hole to measure heat flow from our planet’s interior. Undoubtedly, the samples of ocean crust and mantle eventually retrieved from Atlantis Bank—as well as data gathered from the hole left behind—will keep geologists and geophysicists busy for decades to come. read more