Boring machines do exist. They don’t look anything much like the sci-fi versions . Other Differences:
-They are not “vehicles” in the sense of transporting anything, or anyone. The point is to leave a tunnel behind them.
-The business end is not conical, but a flat face with multiple cutting bits on it. These are similar to what you find on the end of an oil drilling rig, but many more cutters. They roll and crush more than really cut.
-Reaction torque is managed by hydraulically wedging the machine into the existing bore, then extending the cutting face forward. When the cutting face reaches it’s maximum forward extension, it is retracted, and the machine is moved forward for the next bite.
-Progress is rather slow, but much faster than traditional tunneling. Long tunnels can still take months to bore, but before it was years.
Functionality and technology just aren’t feasible for Earth’s geology. It will, though, be crucial to exoplanet excavation and exploration. There are financial hurdles and startup costs to overcome—a fully equipped driller with an Amazonite drill, an Einsteinium hull, Jag Engines, Tri-turbine freon cooling array, etc. is prohibitively expensive. However, the profits from extracted ores and the selling of mars artefacts will—over the long term—offset startup costs.
Some of these huge tunnel boring machines are left underground when their work is complete.
When the ‘chunnel’ between England and France was built it was drillled from both sides and the boring machines met in the middle, I believe one of them was then deliberatly steered off course, effectivly burying itself.
I wonder what the aliens will think when they discover it in 5 billion years time, long after the death of the human race.
