523: The significance of scientific research

"It's a bit outrageous. You know the current world record is only 12,000 meters, and I heard they couldn't drill any further at that depth!

But the Laboratory established by Professor Guo actually aims for 50,000 meters, to penetrate the Moho discontinuity. This is truly a bit too outrageous! I really can't understand it!"

"Perhaps it's Professor Guo's personal interest... Otherwise, it's hard to explain. I can't even imagine how much financial resources such a project would consume!

Is doing this really meaningful?"

"Yeah! Professor Guo doing this is worse than donating the money!"

"Haha! Your logic is really interesting. Doing experiments is meaningless? Then Laboratories, especially high-energy Physics Laboratories, should all be shut down.

Because there's no actual output at all, why not shut them down?"

"Exactly, exactly. In fact, most human research basically doesn't have much economic value or economic significance. This is normal.

But it must exist! I feel that Professor Guo drilling the Earth must be because of some special discovery, otherwise Professor Guo wouldn't do this!"

"Indeed! And doing this is actually quite significant! At least for one thing, our drill bit materials must improve!

Moreover, when humans have the ability to drill a 50,000-meter hole, the development of almost all mineral layers on Earth will basically not have many problems!"

"Yeah! Professor Guo doing this is actually quite significant!"

"Indeed, but I don't quite understand why Professor Guo suddenly went to develop submarines, and the requirement is that they can operate normally on the seabed, with low cost, and be able to develop seabed resources?

Ten thousand meters deep! Can resources be developed on the seabed this deep? What's wrong with Guo Hao!"

"It is a bit strange, I can't quite understand why Professor Guo would make such a choice. I feel that seabed resources shouldn't be very important right now!"

"Hahahaha! Think about it from another perspective. If something like this really exists, change it a bit, make it low-cost, and it can be used for military purposes... Understand?"

"Holy cow! That makes some sense!"

"Holy cow! That makes a lot of sense!"

...

Many people online were speculating.

Guo Hao was completely unaware of this. At this moment, he was interviewing those teams.

In the past few days, after Zhou Ming spread the word.

Almost all domestic teams with research in this area almost all came forward.

After all!

That's Professor Guo!

Being able to join Professor Guo's research group is a great honor for almost all top scientists today!

For example, Professor Wang Tianqi, after joining Professor Guo's research group, in just over a year, actually developed the solid-state battery!

And it was an extremely powerful black technology solid-state battery!

In Professor Wang Tianqi's current state, if he were willing to come out and do R&D for others, his annual salary would be at least one or two hundred million!

Someone would definitely be willing to pay!

Unfortunately, Professor Wang Tianqi is now completely tied to Deep Space Technology!

It's simply impossible for him to be released.

With Professor Wang Tianqi as a precedent, many researchers were extremely envious of Professor Guo's research group.

Now that there was such an opportunity, almost everyone was unwilling to give it up!

Almost all top domestic teams had contact with Guo Hao.

After a round of selection, considering background information, achievements, age, personality, and a series of other assessments.

Combined with Xiao Xin's evaluation of these people, Guo Hao selected two teams.

There's nothing to say about the submarine. Ye Cong, the chief designer of the Jiaolong submarine, led his team to interview with Guo Hao.

In the entire Dragon Country, the only one who had dived deeper than 7,000 meters was Ye Cong. His team could naturally be directly accepted.

As for the drilling team, it was the team of Academician Luo Yaping, the current foremost expert in drilling technology.

"Academician Luo, do you have confidence in drilling to a depth of 50,000 meters?"

Inside Guo Hao's office, Academician Luo sat across from Guo Hao.

Academician Luo smiled and shook his head.

"If you're talking about extracting things from a 50,000-meter hole, I'm afraid the difficulty is very, very high, almost impossible.

Because at this depth, any form of maintenance will lose its effectiveness. Extracting oil or other minerals is basically impossible.

Due to pipeline maintenance, including gravity, and various other factors, extraction becomes almost completely cost-ineffective after reaching a certain depth.

But simply drilling a deep pit exceeding 50,000 meters... I think the biggest problem is still money. If there's enough money, perhaps we can try."

Academician Luo smiled and looked at Guo Hao.

There was a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"It's just that I don't quite understand why Professor Guo wants to do such a thankless task? Even just drilling a 50,000-meter deep pit.

The money and research investment required for that are massive. Is doing this meaningful? After all, we can only develop resources within 20,000 meters underground at most..."

"Meaning? Where do you talk about meaning in scientific research? The fact that we can only extract resources within 20,000 meters underground is merely determined by our current understanding!

What we lack now is not energy; Controlled nuclear fusion reactors are being rolled out across the entire Dragon Country.

What we need to do is use this energy to find ways to develop resources from the entire Earth, and even beyond Earth, to make our human environment better! This is the meaning!

As for drilling a 50,000-meter deep pit, if we don't do it, we're just leaving this problem for our descendants! What do you think?"

Guo Hao smiled slightly, looking at Academician Luo in front of him as he spoke.

Hearing Guo Hao's words, Academician Luo was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I understand. You're right! This is something that needs to be done sooner or later."

"Alright, regarding drilling, I'm not as professional as you, but in Materials Science, you're not as professional as me. Regarding drilling, we might encounter problems in Materials Science.

Feel free to speak your mind, but the design of the drilling equipment is up to you, and the choice of drilling location, geological structure, and these issues are all up to you!

I only have one requirement!"

Saying this, Guo Hao paused, his gaze turning towards Academician Luo.

"Penetrate the Moho discontinuity! Reach the depths of 50,000 meters underground!"

"Understood!"

Academician Luo nodded.

"Okay, here are some material data I've currently produced. Take them and have a look. Also, I've roughly calculated the drill bit data, and related experiments are currently underway. You can take a look at those too!"

Guo Hao took out a black hard drive and handed it to Academician Luo.

"Alright!"

Academician Luo nodded.

After speaking, Academician Luo left.

Soon, Ye Cong also walked into Guo Hao's office.