Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 30 December 2005 1719 hrs
Japanese scientists plan to drill deep into core of Earth By Channel NewsAsia's Japan Correspondent Michiyo Ishida
YOKOHAMA, Japan : Japan has announced ambitious plans to tunnel to the very core of planet Earth - a feat no human has ever achieved.
The country's scientists are hoping to learn more about the planet's past and even its future.
The almost 58,000-tonne vessel which will do the drilling is one of the largest research ships in the world, measuring 210 meters long and 28 metres wide.
The vessel has a tower which stands 121 meters tall - the equivalent of a 30-storey building, and it is equipped with four pipes which can lift up to 1,200 tonnes.
Named "chikyu" or "earth", the ship was built to drill 7,000 metres under the seabed - using cutting edge riser technology.
Asahiko Taira, Director-General, Centre for Deep Earth Exploration, said, "7,000 metres is the magic number for earth science. The reason is because oceanic crust is only 5 to 6000 meters. Underneath, there is a place called mantle, which is the largest component of the earth, and the mantle behaves like conviction cell, moving the earth's surface like a gel, covered in magma. In an earthquake, the whole earth mantle moves, but nobody has seen the mantle. "
The ship itself is a large laboratory, equipped with the latest gadgets - including a computed tomography or CT scanner to study samples from the earth's core.
Operated by the Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science Technology, the ship has already conducted preliminary digs.
Next year, the vessel is aiming to drill down 2,500 meters, but there are risks involved.
Mr Taira said, "We'll avoid large magma generator. It's too hot to drill. So we'll detect where the cold mantle is and make sure there's no volcanic eruption taking place while drilling.
"So we have to find a safe place. But at the same time...we may expect some living organisms in the mantle. If we can find some micro-bioactivity, there's bacteria within the mantle, that will be a Nobel Prize class discovery."
Aside from discovering micro-organisms and the mechanism of earthquakes and tsunamis, by drilling 5,000 metres into the seabed, it is likely that they will hit natural gas.
Scientists are hoping they will be able to unveil the mystery of the creation on the earth, and where it is headed. - CNA/ms
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This reminds me of the fiction book "Journey to the center of the Earth", if I din remember the title of the book wrongly.