Sunday, April 29, 2012

We're the best!

You know the old definition of a boat - an expensive teak-lined hole in the water, into which the owner throws money as fast as they can?

Well, JAMSTEC has gone one better. Not content with a mere hole in the water, they have used one of their boats to drill a hole right into the Earth's crust, deeper than anyone else has managed before. And at far greater cost, naturally. Chikyu (the drilling ship) was damaged during the tsunami - it was up in a port on the east coast somewhere - but seems to be back in operation. It's been an amazing money sink over the years and seems to spend a lot of its time getting repaired.

The article doesn't make clear, but I understand that they have gone through the fault and some way out the other side.

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