One wants to go to heaven and the other to go to the ground, this is the performance of the United States and the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, when the two countries wanted to compete in various fields without a hot war.
At first, the competition between the two sides was in space, and the Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin was the first to step into space, which can be described as the highlight moment of the Soviet Union.
In the field of space, it can be said that the Soviets slapped the Americans hard, but soon the Americans' counterattack also came, and the Apollo lunar exploration spacecraft made its own voice, a small step for me, a big leap for mankind.
In the field of space, the USSR was a slight loser.
Therefore, the whole Soviet society held its breath fiercely, and soon the turning point came, and the Americans, who had gained superiority in space, wanted to defeat the Soviets again at the level of "entering the ground", and wanted to prove the advanced nature of their political form in this way.
Soon the Americans invested $300 million in this experiment in Guadeloupe.
Considering that the seabed is closer to the center of the earth, the Americans want to try underwater drilling to get results.
However, in the end, the Americans failed on the project, drilling only 315 meters, and the entire project was forced to be terminated due to technical difficulties.
Seeing this opportunity to slap the Americans in the face, the Soviets naturally did not give up, and soon the Soviet Union organized a group of senior scientific researchers to carry out this project, and the final drilling depth reached 12,262 meters.
For some mysterious reason, the Soviets shut down the project and even placed a twelve-ton manhole cover on the drill hole to cover it, as if something terrible was about to break out from underneath.
So why did the Soviets finally give up?
It stands to reason that with an excellent score of 12,262 meters, they are only "one step away" from penetrating the earth, what caused the Soviets to give up? Let's go back to that timeline together.
In 1970, when the Soviet Union learned that the Americans' submarine drilling program had failed, the whole society was very happy, and of course, in addition to the joy, they were more disdainful.
Thinking that these capitalists were not only unable to endure hardships, but also very backward in terms of technology, the Soviet Union specially organized a team of experts to come to the Kola Peninsula in order to prove its superiority.
At that time, the Soviet Union made sufficient preparations for this project, and in order to allow the experts to work on the island with peace of mind, the Soviet society gave these scientific researchers the highest treatment.
In addition, after studying the drilling plans of the Americans, the Soviets believed that it would be difficult to realize this great plan due to the interference of many factors such as sea pressure, so they chose the exploration site on the land of the Kola Peninsula.
And in order to continue the project, before the start of the project, the Soviet Union collected relevant drill bits and other equipment and materials all over the world, and at the same time opened up a special fund for this project.
Once everything was ready, the project, known as the Earth Telescope, was officially launched.
At first, the Soviets' plan went very smoothly, and they easily drilled to 1,000 meters, compared to the 315 meters of the Americans, which can be described as a complete victory.
But the Soviets were not satisfied with this, in their world, victory was not the ultimate goal, they were going to bring down the Americans on this plan.
As a result, the Soviet Union set up as many as 16 crustal laboratories to conduct drilling and rock research at the same time, and in this state, the Soviets were full of confidence.
Even in the process of excavation, the Soviets discovered a lot of diamonds and other mineral deposits, which gave them a new impetus.
This means that the project is not a waste of money, but has recyclable value, but they have not yet discovered it.
The Soviets had this idea because halfway through the march of the project, there were already different voices in society.
Opponents argue that since the Soviet Union has already outperformed the United States, it should not be carried out at the expense of the people and money, and that spending money on the cutting edge is the top priority of the Soviet Union.
There are even rumors that this ground game is actually a trap for the Americans.
They tried to bring the Soviet Union down in this way, because halfway through the project, it brought back no practical significance to the Soviet Union except for bringing back some rock samples for study, and this false spiritual victory did not mean much to the Soviet Union.
At a time when Soviet society was opposed, the project was also running into big problems.
In the end, when the excavation reached 12,226 meters, the Soviet Union withdrew all the experts overnight, and even closed the drill mouth directly, without explaining the reason to the Soviets.
But rumors spread to every corner of the world overnight, and some say that the Soviets had reached the gates of hell and that there was a terrible human roar coming from the entrance.
There were even rumors that some monster was going to come out of that hole, and the Soviet officials were silent about all kinds of bizarre rumors.
This adds a lot of credibility to these rumors.
In 2002, a joint exploration team consisting of the United States, Russia, and the European Union came to the Kola Peninsula again to unravel the truth hidden by the Soviets.
But when they arrived at the scene, they found that the twelve-ton manhole cover had been violently destroyed.
In front of the researchers, there was a bottomless abyss, looking at the dark entrance of the cave, as if a mysterious being was staring, and at the same time, there was always a terrible cry similar to that of a human being coming from the hole.
Did you really dig the gates of hell back then, the relevant researchers do not believe in this, they think that everything is within the scope of science.
After investigating and questioning the people involved in the project, the researchers soon found out why the Soviets had suspended the project at that time.
It turns out that the so-called terrible roar of human beings is just the sound of gas flowing in a small space, and because of the fear of the unknown, so there are subsequent rumors.
As for the suspension of this project by the Soviets, there are two main reasons.
One is that the drilling program is really like a bottomless pit, and the investment has not brought a certain return, and this expenditure felt very heavy even by the Soviets back then, so the project had to be suspended.
The second is the increased difficulty of drilling, and an old man who has participated in the project said that drilling at a depth of 12,226 meters is like drilling an asphalt road with a hanging surface.
In such a deep situation, the ambient temperature reached an astonishing figure, and the drill bit of any material would become very soft when it went down, and at this time, let alone drilling, even basic operations could not be completed, and in this context, the Soviets hastily ended the project!
Information sources:
The Paper - "What did the Soviets dig in the permanently blocked ultra-deep wells?", 2021.4.22
Fruit Shell Network - "The Soviets dug the deepest hole in the world, just to see what is underneath" 2019.9.11