Could We Drill to the Mantle?

It's the thinnest of three main layers, yet humans have never drilled all the way through it. Then, the mantle makes up a whopping 84% of the planet's volume. At the inner core, you'd have to drill through solid iron. This would be especially difficult because there's near-zero gravity at the core.

Can you drill to the mantle?

Since the 1960s, researchers have attempted to drill into Earth's mantle but have not yet met with success. ... The mantle, which lies between the outer core and the crust, makes up an estimated 68 percent of the planet's mass and a whopping 85 percent of its volume.

Will humans ever reach the mantle?

If Japanese support can be combined with other funding, Teagle says they could start drilling before the end of the decade, making it possible for humans to finally reach the Earth's mantle by the early 2020s.