In 1970, the Soviet Union embarked on an ambitious drilling project that would inevitably dig through the earth, investing a lot of manpower and material resources to drill frantically into the ground on the Kola Peninsula in Europe.
The Soviet people were full of expectations, and if the Soviet Union could really dig through the earth, it would be a groundbreaking feat, and even the sworn enemy of the United States would have to admire the Soviet Union by that time.
The Americans, who have always been arrogant, were also worried at this time, if the Soviet Union really dug through the earth, what would mankind do in the event of a catastrophic situation such as the explosion of the earth and the loosening of the earth.
In the expectations of the Soviet people and the worries of the Americans, the Soviet Union kept digging into the ground, digging to a depth of more than 10,000 meters, but when it reached a depth of 12,262 meters, the Soviet government suddenly stopped the project, which surprised the people of the United States and the Soviet Union.
For a while, everyone was puzzled and speculated about the reason, some people said that the Soviets encountered the "gates of hell" in the cave, and terminated and planned in time out of fear, so what is the actual situation?
The contest between the United States and the Soviet Union "from heaven to earth".
During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted for more than 40 years, on the whole, the United States actually surpassed the Soviet Union in terms of comprehensive national strength.
The United States has developed explosively in all aspects of economy, science and technology, and military, while the Soviet Union has placed more emphasis on improving its military strength, and it was only when the Soviet Union's military strength reached its peak around 1970 that it reached the point where the United States was extremely afraid.
Why, then, was the Soviet Union able to compete with the United States for a long time when its comprehensive national strength was often inferior to that of the United States, creating a world pattern in which the United States and the Soviet Union were vying for hegemony?
First of all, the Soviets were rough and often pursued extreme and even crazy in doing things, while the Americans were more inclined to consider the overall interests.
Second, the Soviet Union practiced a socialist system and emphasized the mobilization of the whole people in its work, while the US government was often constrained by the people when it wanted to do something earth-shattering.
For the above two reasons, when the US government and the Soviet government were fighting each other, the Soviet Union was often able to tie or even slightly gain the upper hand with the United States with a slightly inferior overall national strength.
This is vividly reflected in the matter of drilling.
During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, on the road of developing science and technology, both countries regarded the heavens and the earth as an important goal of their own scientific and technological development, and thus began round after round of strength contests.
First of all, the Soviet Union set a precedent in the sky and sent the cosmonaut Gagarin into space, but then it was quickly surpassed by the United States, which launched an "Apollo program" to directly let the astronauts land on the moon.
The Soviet Union did not admit defeat at all, and began to compete with the United States in the project of entering the ground, and also wanted to give the United States a corner to overtake, and finally did it.
The United States carried out an ocean drilling project in the waters near Guadeloupe, and they wanted to dig a deep hole in the earth to see what was mysterious in the depths of the ground, because considering that the crust at the bottom of the ocean is thin and the distance between it and the center of the earth is small, so the Americans put the place of drilling in the ocean.
Although this choice seems reasonable, it is a great test of a country's diving skills, which undoubtedly indirectly increases the difficulty of drilling, and provides an opportunity for the Soviet Union to overtake in later corners.
The Soviets were full of ambition
The Americans excavated at a cost of $300 million under the deep ocean, digging 315 meters down the 948-meter seabed to the Moho surface between the earth's crust and mantle, and collected a lot of rock samples.
However, it became more and more difficult to continue digging, and due to the limited technical level, it was difficult to continue digging, so the plan had to be stopped in time in 1966.
The termination of this plan of the United States has made the Soviets shine in the eyes of the Soviets, and the opportunity to overtake them in the corner is coming, and if they can do something even more earth-shattering than the United States in the matter of entering the ground, it will be a feat that will attract worldwide attention.
So the Soviet Union began to intensively plan the drilling project, and all the preparations had only one direction, that is, to think about how to dig a deep hole in the earth, at least deeper than the hole dug by the United States, and even better to be able to dig through the whole earth, to see what it would be like to go from one side of the earth through the hole to the other.
In order to prepare for this plan, the Soviets put a lot of effort into it, and the preparations alone were done for five years, and all the preparations were carried out in top secret, for fear of being known by the United States.
Over the course of five years, a large number of geologists, rock experts, and drilling experts were gathered in this project to advise on every detail of the project.
Eventually, they chose the Kola Peninsula in northern Europe to dig deep into the island's land, a project known as the "Earth Telescope", and the Soviets had the ambition to dig through the earth.
In order to promote this scientific research project, the Soviet government invested a lot of manpower and material resources, and did not hesitate to spend money.
In order to allow these people to work with peace of mind, the Soviet government gave them the best salary, the highest salary in the country, and no one was equipped with a house or a car.
At that time, after hearing about such a job opportunity, some people tried their best to participate in it and get a piece of the pie, but this kind of project is not something that anyone can enter if they want to, either they must have excellent skills in technology, or they must have their own attainments in relevant theories, otherwise they are not qualified to join at all.
This drilling project was officially launched in 1970, when the Soviet Union's military strength had just reached its peak, and it was full of self-confidence in the international community, daring to be more rigid and arrogant with the United States, and it also intended to completely surpass the United States and lead the world in the drilling project.
They used the best and most expensive drill bits and rigs, equipped with all light alloy drill pipes, and the accuracy and stability were world-leading at the time.
In order to be as safe as possible, all machines and equipment are frequently inspected and replaced at the slightest defect, as are expensive drill rigs and drill bits, which can be seen in the huge cost of money.
In order to analyze the composition of various rocks in a timely manner, the Soviet Union opened 16 research laboratories near the project, which is bound to thoroughly explore the mysteries of the deep earth, so that the Soviet Union's understanding of the earth will lead the world.
Fortunately, in the process of drilling, the Soviet Union dug up diamond and gold mines deep underground, and took out all the minerals that could be extracted, and sold them at a good price in the international community.
This made the Soviets dig even harder, digging 12,000 meters deep into the earth from 1970 to 1983, reaching a depth never seen in the world.
The Soviets were not satisfied, and continued to dig down from a depth of 12,000 meters, and the difficulty of going further down became more and more difficult, but the Soviets did not give up, they were still full of energy, and they felt that they would not give up until they dug through the earth.
With this perseverance and perseverance, it is entirely possible for the Soviets to dig through the earth with the belief that "man will conquer heaven", but it was not long before the Soviet Union suddenly encountered an insurmountable obstacle.
The legendary "Gates of Hell"
When digging to a depth of 12,262 meters, the unbelievable situation appeared, the Soviet government suddenly and urgently stopped the drilling project, let all the staff in the hole evacuate, and then after it was empty, a 12-ton steel manhole cover was covered at the entrance of the hole, and the manhole cover was firmly sealed with a dozen fist-sized screws, and all the secrets in the hole were sealed inside.
Even the machinery and equipment inside did not take the time to take it away, and in this way, the "Earth Telescope" project was hastily ended.
So why did the Soviets abruptly terminate this drilling program, and what was the little-known situation inside? This aroused the suspicion and curiosity of many people, and many people began to speculate on the basis of what they knew.
Although the Soviet top brass tried to block the news and not allow those involved in the construction to disclose the information to the outside world, over time, some clues leaked out of the mouths of some of the participants, and one of the very interesting claims was widely circulated among the people.
It is said that during the drilling process, the experts used a high-temperature recording equipment to record the sound at the bottom of the hole, and the sound sounded very strange after it was played, like the cry of a human being, mixed with some hoarse roars, it was like hell.
So some people speculate that the reason why the Soviet Union urgently terminated the project was because it dug the gates of hell deep in the earth, and did not dare to continue digging out of fear, which was both for its own protection and for respect for the dead.
When people can't explain some phenomena, they often use some bizarre statements to temporarily fill their curiosity, for the common people this matter is just a temporary heat, after a bit of street talk with strange legends, they gradually forget, but for experts and scholars, it is a mystery that has always wanted to figure out.
Was the reason for the termination of the project really the so-called "Gates of Hell"?
In 2002, the United States, Russia, and the European Union sent a joint expedition to the Kola Peninsula to examine the 12,262-meter-deep drill hole left by the Soviets to find out why the Soviet Union had abruptly terminated the program.
The scientists went deeper and deeper, and sure enough, it felt as if they had come to the gates of hell, and they heard strange sounds that became more and more obvious, as if they were human cries and roars, and they also saw ribbons of light, which made people feel very strange to be there.
But scientists don't believe in these superstitions, and in order to find out, they decide to find out the scientific mysteries inside.
After repeated measurements and calculations, they came to the conclusion that the strange sounds they heard were not due to encountering some "hell gate", but from the transmission of various waves such as electromagnetic waves from the depths of the earth, and the ribbon light they saw was completely the faint light emitted by some material under the earth's crust due to the special material.
If this strange phenomenon is not something to be feared, why did the Soviets suddenly halt this gigantic project and let it fall short?
The answer is the constraints of natural conditions.
The more the researchers probed, the more they found that with the increase of the depth of the hole, the temperature and pressure are also increasing, and after reaching a certain depth, the temperature and pressure have completely reached the point that humans can bear, even with anti-high temperature and anti-high pressure equipment, it is difficult to withstand ultra-high temperature and pressure.
Another very important factor is that it is very difficult to transmit data from the depths of the hole to the surface, because of the change of the rock condition of the formation, the electromagnetic wave will encounter a great impact when propagating in the hole, so it is almost impossible to quickly propagate the data from the bottom of the hole, and it can only be transported by manpower, which greatly increases the cost.
epilogue
Overcoming the difficulties of high temperatures, high pressures, and difficult data collection required a lot of technical research and a lot of research funding, but by 1983 the economic situation in the Soviet Union had deteriorated, and it was impossible to guarantee the livelihood of its own people, let alone spend money on this huge project.
In desperation, the Soviet Union had no choice but to stop this earth-shattering project, leaving many of the mysteries of the earth that had been explored to future generations of scientists.
- Author: Rudolph
- Editor: Rudolph