Japan explores near the center of the Earth

Chikyu (Japan) prepares exploration drilling deep into the ground 7 km from the ocean floor to bring back soil samples near the center of the earth.

Chikyu trains will drill up to 7 km deep into the ground (Photo: blog. Kurose.biz)

While the United States and Russia are engrossed in projects that fly into space, on January 16, 2006, Japanese scientists began training to understand the origin of life deep in the earth.

As expected, the Japanese ship named Chikyu, with the most modern exploration equipment ever, will go to Nankai Trough (Japan) to drill deep into the earth 7 km from the ocean floor. This is 3 times the depth of the previous record.

After that, the technical equipment will bring soil samples near the center of the earth for scientists to study life here.

Theoretically, life may originate under the earth's crust at a temperature and pressure completely different from the surface of the earth or ocean. Some also argue that geothermal, not solar, can create the first living model.

In addition, Chikyu also explored the source of the earthquake and brought sensors into the earth's crust , which is expected to establish an effective alarm system for Japan and East Asia.

The cost of designing the ship is 620 million USD and each year its operation will consume nearly 90 million USD.