When drilling like 12 km deep into the ground, how is it possible that a 12 km long pipe (drill string) is able to turn the drill bit AND be pushed down enough to drill??

Question

A 12 km long pipe seems like a ridiculous length for any of that to be possible. Isn’t it like trying to drill a hole with a 258 ft long piece of spaghetti?

In: 1335

Answer 1

In a related development there is now what is essentially a microwave powered “drill”

>The company’s drill—it is building three prototypes in laboratories—is about 100 feet tall and looks like conventional equipment used in the oil and gas industry. Except built into the center of the drill is a gyrotron, an electrical vacuum designed to heat plasma in thermonuclear fusion machines. It’s designed to go as much as 12 miles deep and access steam as hot as 500C.

[https://www.quaise.energy/](https://www.quaise.energy/)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8sjdOjNxIE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8sjdOjNxIE)

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-21/drilling-12-miles-down-to-tap-geothermal-energy?leadSource=uverify%20wall](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-21/drilling-12-miles-down-to-tap-geothermal-energy?leadSource=uverify%20wall)