63 



sponsored by the Upper Mantel Committee of 

 the International Union of Geodesy and Geo- 

 physics (lUGG), a branch of the International 

 Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), adopted a 

 resolution which said in part "The Mohole 

 Project is most fimdamental to advances in 

 knowledge in a wide range of earth sciences and 

 the early initiation of drilling is strongly recom- 

 mended in places \vhere the Mohorovicic Dis- 

 continuity is well established by geophysical 

 measurements..." The Upper Mantle Committee 

 includes representatives of m^ny nations of which 

 Canada, the U.S.S.R., South Africa, and the 

 United States were represented on the Sub- 

 committee in charge of proceedings for the 

 symposium. 



In addition to its pmely sciendfic contributions, 

 the Project will contribute technological ad- 

 vances of interest to other fields; indeed it has 

 already done so. The Department of the Navy 

 and NASA have both maintained an active in- 

 terest in the type of large stable platform that has 

 been designed. The Navy is interested in conduct- 

 ing many kinds of heavy work at sea, including 

 recovery operations, while NASA may need a 

 marine-based satellite tracking station that 

 might incorporate many features of the platform 

 design. A stable platform is also of interest for 

 many types of oceanographic and atmospheric 

 research. It can also make an important contribu- 

 tion to the oil industry as will a modified drill 

 that has been developed for the Mohole Project. 



The project is significant from an engineering 

 standpoint because of the unique drilling capa- 

 bility which must be developed. Not only will 

 it require drilling to greater depths than ever 

 before, but the work has to be carried out in deep 

 ocean areas in the hazardous and erratic marine 

 environment. The drilling system is designed 

 to operate from a large stable drilling platform 

 which is self propelled and dynamically posi- 

 tioned. The six-column platform with twin lower 

 hulls, designed jointly by Brown & Root, Inc., 

 the prime contractor on the project, and Gibbs & 

 Cox, Inc., a leading naval architectural firm, will 

 be the largest offshore drilling platform yet built. 

 It is designed to stay on station and drill under 

 such adverse conditions as 30-knot winds, fully 

 developed seas (28-30 foot waves), and 3-knot 

 surface currents. 



The positioning system has been developed 

 and is being fabricated to keep the platform on 

 station under conditions described above and 

 within a 500-foot radius circle. Position is main- 

 tained automatically but the system will permit 

 manual control of the platform as required. 



The drilling system is designed around the 

 conventional rotary drilling methods, with most 

 components requiring upgrading or special design 

 to accomplish the task. A special down-hole turbo- 

 drill has been developed, however, which will 

 drill faster than rotary drills and permit con- 

 tinuous coring. It has performed exceptionally 

 well in tests thus far conducted. A retractable 

 diamond bit has been designed which will permit 

 bit changes without pulling the drill string. The 

 drawworks is the largest ever built, and the auto- 

 matic pipe handling equipment is a first for 

 industr)- as well. 



A sonar device for hole reentry is being devel- 

 oped and underwater television is planned as a 

 back-up system. An underwater vehicle may 

 eventually be required for inspection and repair 

 work. Several devices for down-hole scientific 

 measurements have been prepared and others 

 are in the course of development. The logging 

 winches and controls are under construction and 

 the longest logging cable (40,000 ft) yet required 

 will be procured for use in the holes drilled. 



The state of the deep drilling art will be ex- 

 tended by the engineering developments being 

 brought about by the project. While it is a sec- 

 condary consideration, the significance of this 

 project to the drilling and petroleum industries 

 will be considerable. 



Proposed FY 1967 Program 



Initial funding for the drilling platform oc- 

 curred in the middle of FY 1966. The project 

 consists of two major phases: (1) Developing, 

 designing and constructing the necessary capital 

 equipment, and (2) an operational phase which 

 will be continued for many years — perhaps two 

 or three decades. As presently estimated, phase 

 (I) will condnue through FY 1967 into FY 1968. 

 Phase (2) will be initiated by drilling several holes 

 to intermediate depths, over a period of perhaps 

 a year, before going to the Maui site (about 120 



