The $1 billion mission to reach the Earth’s mantle

Humans have reached the moon and are planning to return samples from Mars, but when it comes to exploring the land deep beneath our feet, we have only scratched the surface of our planet.
This may be about to change with a $1 billion mission to drill 6 km (3.7 miles) beneath the seafloor to reach the Earth’s mantle — a 3000 km-thick layer of slowly deforming rock between the crust and the core which makes up the majority of our planet — and bring back the first ever fresh samples.

“A team of international scientists are planning to drill into the Earth’s mantle in an attempt to answer questions about the origins and evolution of life”

Incorrect.

dv said:

“A team of international scientists are planning to drill into the Earth’s mantle in an attempt to answer questions about the origins and evolution of life”

Incorrect.

Are you going to qualify that?

The statement is incorrect. These samples will tell us nothing about life.

I think the person who wrote that caption was a bit confused by the following paragraph in the article itself:

“It could help answer some of our biggest questions about the origins and evolution of Earth itself, with almost all of the sea floor and continents that make up the Earth´s surface originating from the mantle.”

dv said:

The statement is incorrect. These samples will tell us nothing about life.

I think the person who wrote that caption was a bit confused by the following paragraph in the article itself:

“It could help answer some of our biggest questions about the origins and evolution of Earth itself, with almost all of the sea floor and continents that make up the Earth´s surface originating from the mantle.”

Fair observation. We will find out if there are any surprises.

bq.
The first attempts to reach the Earth’s mantle actually began back in the early 1960s. Dubbed “Project Mohole” after the Croatian meteorologist Andrija Mohorovicic who first discovered the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle, a team of U.S. scientists managed to drill a few meters into the oceanic crust off Guadalupe Island in the eastern pacific. The achievement was recognized by a telegram from President John F. Kennedy but the project was closed down in 1966
bq.

If they only managed to drill a few metres I’m not surprised it was shut down.

The Rev Dodgson said:

The first attempts to reach the Earth’s mantle actually began back in the early 1960s. Dubbed “Project Mohole” after the Croatian meteorologist Andrija Mohorovicic who first discovered the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle, a team of U.S. scientists managed to drill a few meters into the oceanic crust off Guadalupe Island in the eastern pacific. The achievement was recognized by a telegram from President John F. Kennedy but the project was closed down in 1966

If they only managed to drill a few metres I’m not surprised it was shut down.