Earth Core Probe

[Chuck Cooper <cooperc@teleport.com>]

Earth Probe Plan Would Blast a Path to the Core



National Geographic News May 14, 2003



http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0514_030514_earthcore.html



A scientist proposes sending a grapefruit-size communication device into

the heart of the Earth by blasting a crack in the surface and pouring in

a huge quantity of molten iron. The weight of the liquid metal would

crack the Earth for more than 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers), carrying

the probe to the planet's core in about a week.



The probe would measure temperature, electrical conductivity, and

chemical composition, and would beam back data as encoded sound waves to

a surface detector.



David J. Stevenson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena

outlines the plan in the May 16 issue of the scientific journal Nature.



"Planetary missions have enhanced our understanding of the solar system

and how planets work, but no comparable exploratory effort has been

directed towards the Earth's interior, where equally fascinating

scientific issues are waiting to be investigated," Stevenson said in his

paper. "I propose a scheme for a mission to the Earth's core, in which a

small communication probe would be conveyed in a huge volume of

liquid-iron alloy migrating down to the core along a crack that is

propagating under the action of gravity."



A Caltech scientist has proposed sending a grapefruit-sized probe into

the Earth's core through a 12-inch (30-centimeter) rift in the Earth's

crust. The probe would descend in a mass of molten iron, traveling much

in the way lava moves through volcanic fissures, only in reverse.



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