Science & Technology: Hypersonic Drilling Can Drill Deep Geothermal Wells up to 10 times Faster

Is Google Going Underground With Hypersonic Tech? (IEEE Spectrum)

High-speed drilling could revolutionize geothermal energy

Google is carrying out research on hypersonics, probably for new technologies to slash the cost of geothermal energy and tunneling. It could also be acquiring a Washington-based startup called HyperSciences that has already built prototype devices.

HyperSciences, spun out of the University of Washington, also in Seattle, is developing a novel drilling system that fires concrete projectiles at over 2 kilometers per second in advance of a drill bit. It claims that its system can drill deep wells up to 10 times faster than existing systems, enabling geothermal energy “anywhere in the world.”

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