In the bitter cold of the Arctic Circle, the Soviet Union showed astonishing determination to embark on an unprecedented project – digging through the earth. Over the course of more than 20 years, they set a new global record for drilling a hole that was 12,262 meters deep.
However, just as the goal was about to be achieved, the Soviet Union abruptly withdrew all construction teams and even completely sealed the drilling head with a 12-ton steel manhole cover, ending this grand plan.
Over the years, there has been controversy about this incident. Some have even speculated that they may have discovered the disturbing "Gates of Hell". Why, then, did the USSR abandon the task of continuing to dig deep and completing the feat of drilling through the earth's crust?
After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States became the two superpowers of the time, and they engaged in a long and fierce open and covert struggle. Despite the horrors of war, the prohibition of large-scale wars has become a global consensus.
Against this backdrop, the Soviet Union and the United States competed to contain each other, and even exaggerated imaginations such as "heaven and earth" became the realm of contention between the two countries. Although the Soviet Union successfully launched a satellite and sent humans into space for the first time, it was surpassed by the successful moon landing of the "Apollo Program" of the United States in the space race.
With the gradual transcendence of the field of astronautics, the Soviet Union decided to turn its goal to "into the earth" and explore the mysteries of the Earth's interior. They realized that the crust of the ocean is thinner and closer to the center of the earth than on hard land, so drilling from the ocean may have a better chance of success.
This simple truth was recognized not only by the Soviet Union, but also by the United States, and even in 1965 the "Moho Face Drilling Program" was proposed. The program, which takes place off the coast of Guadeloupe and has a budget of up to US$300 million, aims to penetrate the Earth's crust to reach the Moho surface, the interface between the crust and the upper mantle, and to collect rock samples.
The reason for choosing the Moho surface is that in 1909, while recording **, Moholovich stumbled upon the phenomenon of a sudden increase in the propagation speed of the **wave at a position 33 kilometers underground. This phenomenon came to be known as the Moho surface, and its depth ranges from 5 to 15 km in the shallower part of the ocean, while it is more extensive in the land part, about 20 to 80 km.
Lao Mei's "Moho Face Drilling Program" made satisfactory progress at the beginning, and the drill ship easily drilled down the seabed at a depth of 948 meters for more than 100 meters and successfully retrieved valuable rock samples. However, with the investment of large resources, the project came to an impasse, and the final drilling depth was only 315 meters below the seabed. Due to technical difficulties and high costs, this plan of the United States finally failed in 1966.
When the Soviets learned of the difficulties faced by the United States in their underground exploration, they quickly realized that the time had come for them to turn the tide. They quickly moved and were determined to comprehensively surpass the United States in the "** underground" field and seriously hit the morale of the other side.
Inspired by the failure of the United States, the Soviet Union decided to locate the drilling site on land, effectively solving the technical problem. As a result, they held high the banner of "digging through the earth" and officially launched the grand plan known as the "Earth Telescope".
Although the United States has hit a wall, this failure further confirms the feasibility of drilling into the Earth's interior. To ensure the success of the program, the Soviet Union chose the Kola Peninsula in northern Europe and invested huge money and human resources. It took five years to prepare for the preliminary construction.
In 1970, thousands of Soviet scientists were secretly transferred to the Kola Peninsula. It is said that in order to ensure that the experts concentrate on their work, each expert involved in the project enjoys the highest salary in the country, not to mention the RV allowance, and the monthly salary is even comparable to the annual salary of a university professor.
In addition to the abundance of personnel, the Soviet Union also learned from the experience of the United States, bringing in the most advanced drilling rigs and drill bits and other tools from around the world, and the degree of luxury was staggering. In order to meet the needs of the project, Soviet scientists introduced light alloy drill pipes, which greatly improved the performance of the drilling rig.
With funds, personnel and equipment in place, the Soviets worked intensively on the remote Kola Peninsula. Unlike the United States, the Soviet project progressed smoothly with the support of sufficient funding and advanced technology, and the 1,000-meter drilling mission was completed with ease. Their research results are far beyond the reach of the United States, and the laboratory's research covers 16 fields.
It is worth noting that the Soviet Union accidentally discovered rich mineral resources such as gold and diamond mines during the excavation, the value of which is incalculable.
As the depth continued to increase, the Soviet Union continued to upgrade its rigs and bits to accommodate increasingly complex drilling tasks. It wasn't until 1983 that they managed to descend to a staggering 12,000 meters, even deeper than the Mariana Trench, known as the "scar of the earth".
However, what is puzzling is that after reaching a depth of 12,262 meters, the Soviet Union ** announced the suspension of the plan, evacuated all the staff overnight, sealed the wellhead with a 12-ton steel manhole cover, and even left all kinds of equipment on the site there.
The Soviet Union's series of actions was clearly confusing, and over the years there has been a lot of speculation about the incident and strange explanations for the reasons behind it.
Rumor has it that the Soviets have inadvertently dug a way to the Kola Peninsula"Gates of Hell", followed by a series of unexplained paranormal events. It is said that not only monsters are pouring out of the hole, but there are also rumors of similar ones"Devil May Cry"The strange cry seems to come from deep underground.
Some researchers have even decentralised high-temperature recording equipment to record these sounds, and the results have shown something similar"Human roars"The recording, as if it were a call sign from hell, is creepy. Even atheists can't help but doubt life when faced with all this.
In the face of these unbelievable events, everyone did not dare to dig deeper. At that time, the situation was officially sealed and became a top secret, and it was strictly forbidden to leak it.
However, for geologists, this becomes a valuable scientific project. In 2002, a scientific research team composed of the United States, Russia, the European Union Space Agency and other countries went to the Kola Peninsula again to try to solve the mystery.
However, the team unexpectedly discovered that the 12-ton manhole cover on the drill hole had been violently damaged, and upon entering the laboratory, they found a band-like unidentified wave of light, accompanied by a bizarre echo.
Although these rumors are becoming less and less credible, they are closely linked to the situation at the time. Considering the fierce competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, the sudden halt of such a huge project necessarily requires a reasonable explanation.
As with the termination of the manned lunar landing program by the United States, the Soviet Union suspended"Dig through the earth"The reason behind the plan is simple: a lack of adequate funding.
In fact, the economic situation of the USSR was not rosy due to competition with the United States. The livelihoods of the people are unsustainable, let alone such an expensive ultra-deep drilling project in Kola. Once there is a shortage of funds, the operation of the equipment cannot be maintained at all.
When the project was first launched, the Soviet Union was so powerful that it was not a problem to invest a lot of money. However, due to the long duration of this project, it was not until after the collapse of the Soviet Union that the project was stopped on and off.
In addition, it was clear that the technology at the time could not support the researchers to dig deeper. As the depth of drilling increased, so did the temperature in the subsurface, which meant that all machines and components needed to withstand high temperatures, which seemed almost impossible at the time.
One geologist likened the project to standing on a tall building and drilling a hole in the asphalt road below with an incomparably slender dry noodle.
High pressure and high geostress are also problems that need to be solved urgently. At the same time, the collection of data has become extremely difficult, and it has become almost a luxury to obtain accurate and reliable geological data. The slightest mistake can bring the project to a standstill.
Due to technical and financial constraints, the depth of more than 12,000 meters made progress extremely slow, and the final 262 meters took nearly a decade. Staff had to suspend work in anticipation of the arrival of new technologies.
In general, it seems to be getting harder and harder to get to the bottom of the Earth's inner secrets. The future of science is still long and helpless, but with the rapid development of science and technology, our understanding of the world will also become more profound. List of high-quality authors