magnemoe Posted Monday at 12:18 AM Share Posted Monday at 12:18 AM On 1/4/2025 at 7:43 PM, StrandedonEarth said: Hmmm. The neat thing about supporting the ‘lith cover with air pressure is that if there is a leak, or the airlocks need to be cycled rapidly, the pressure would remain nearly constant as the roof sags. The downside is that leaks wouldn’t naturally slow due to lessening of the pressure differential. You don't want the roof to collapse, period. First an thin structure is much easier to make an large hole in by driving some heavy equipment into the balloon than steel, also if it collapses you have to dig up the hole again and replace it. Or its an leak because some drove an forklift into the wall, add some patches then you get an crew in to patch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted Monday at 12:45 AM Share Posted Monday at 12:45 AM 2 hours ago, farmerben said: I wish I could tell you what the state of the art is for well drilling. A few decades ago we were limited by the torsional strength of steel shafts, but they have overcome that somehow. Do they lower the motor down the shaft? Or is it all water based? Idk. I say that because if you just want warm water, I'm pretty sure you could drill a 10 cm hole easier than than a 4m one. Removing the cuttings is half of the work. For oil drilling you use hydraulic powered drill heads, these tend to be 30-50 cm and you can control them to drill vertical. My apartment blocks is heated by ground water and heat pumps. Its an river nearby so we simply steal heat from the ground water flowing by. These drill rigs is much larger than the ones used for rock blasting. Its also horizontal drilling for pipes for getting under roads and housing but this tend to be in dirt not rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Monday at 01:22 AM Share Posted Monday at 01:22 AM 34 minutes ago, magnemoe said: For oil drilling you use hydraulic powered drill heads, these tend to be 30-50 cm and you can control them to drill vertical. My apartment blocks is heated by ground water and heat pumps. Its an river nearby so we simply steal heat from the ground water flowing by. These drill rigs is much larger than the ones used for rock blasting. Its also horizontal drilling for pipes for getting under roads and housing but this tend to be in dirt not rock. Sure, but a 20km vertical shaft? Kola bore is just over 12km and it was not easy to do at all. I can’t imagine automating that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted Monday at 02:46 PM Share Posted Monday at 02:46 PM 13 hours ago, darthgently said: Sure, but a 20km vertical shaft? Kola bore is just over 12km and it was not easy to do at all. I can’t imagine automating that. Agree, now I'm pretty sure they use an hydraulic driven drill heads, benefit is that it both cool and take away the cuttings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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