Project Mohole

Project Mohole was an attempt in the early 1960s to drill through the Earth's crust to obtain samples of the Mohorovičić discontinuity, or Moho, the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle. The project was intended to provide an earth science complement to the high-profile Space Race. While such a project was not feasible on land, drilling in the open ocean was more feasible, because the mantle lies much closer to the sea floor.

"Mohole" redirects here. Moholes also feature in the Mars trilogy as fictional terraforming devices.
For the Russian land-based drilling operation, see Kola Superdeep Borehole.
Project Mohole – Phase 1 Test
CUSS I
DateMarch–April 1961
LocationOff Guadalupe Island, Mexico, Pacific Ocean
ParticipantsWillard Bascom, Walter Munk, Roger Revelle, John Steinbeck, William Riedel
OutcomeFirst successful test of deep-ocean drilling techniques.

Led by a group of scientists called the American Miscellaneous Society with funding from the National Science Foundation, the project suffered from political and scientific opposition, mismanagement, and cost overruns. The U.S. House of Representatives defunded it in 1966. By then a program of sediment drilling had branched from Project Mohole to become the Deep Sea Drilling Project of the National Science Foundation.

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