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The Kola Superdeep Borehole, can be found in Russia on the Kola Peninsula. The USSR was proud of it as much as it was of its space stations and underwater vehicles. Each of its 12 262 meters (40,230 ft or over 7.6 miles) below the earth’s surface. was a real revelation for scientists.
Drilling began on 24 May 19, 1970. You had to be really lucky to get into the project — only one specialist of a thousand could go to the construction spot and be one of those who were drilling the whole never seen before. All the members of the construction group were given an apartment in Moscow and had a monthly salary equal to a year’s salary of a university professor. There were 16 laboratories working at the borehole at the same time, and the project was headed by the Minister of Geology.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole was frozen in 1994. In 1983 it was already 12 km deep when they decided to stop the digging, and after another 262 meters were dug (it took a decade to “cover” this distance), the project was totally nixed. The official reason for it was a lack of financing.
Distant galaxies happen to be better explored by the humanity than what it has beneath its feet. Getting to the border of the Solar System was easier than to go three kilometers deep. Most of the boreholes couldn’t reach deeper that that because when drills went further, something unbelievable happened – they melt in some super-hot matter (though, its fusion temperature is equal to the Sun one) or were pulled down and the drillers dragged out only ropes.
