MovieChat Forums > Armageddon (1998) Discussion > The Drill

The Drill

posted 12 years ago by Triple-xXx
15 replies | jump to latest

I realize this movie has, well, a few plot holes. I'm just wondering.

I may be wrong about this, but doesn't a drill rig actually work (at least partially) based on weight and/or being properly secured to the surface. Without it, you have no force.
ie. - just setting a hand drill, point first, on a piece of wood wont drill a hole. You gotta add weight (push).

That rover hardly seems capable to provide that weight.
Am I wrong?

[~]--------------------[~]
The World is My Oyster...
Completely Shucked!
[~]--------------------[~]

[–] mikeyg24 12 years ago

Nope you're dead right and especially on in an environment with reduced gravity to earth.

Your's sincerely, General Joseph Liebgott

[–] Triple-xXx 12 years ago

Yeah! Seems to me it would just "Sit and Spin" so-to-speak. :)

[~]--------------------[~]
The World is My Oyster...
Completely Shucked!
[~]--------------------[~]

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lichnost99 12 years ago

Well among all other innacuracie, this one is not that terrible. The asteroid was huge, therefore had some gravity of its own. Plus, who knows... maybe there were some special thrusters built into the rig... Movie magic :-)

They never found the second dose!

[–] virgiltx 12 years ago

lichnost99:
"The asteroid was huge, therefore had some gravity of its own."

That is correct (except it's "gravitation"--"gravity" is Earth's gravitation), and it should also be mentioned that gravitation is proportional to both the mass of the bodies and the inverse square of the distance between their gravitational centers. The asteroid appeared to be flat, so it would be possible to get near its gravitational center, which would make its gravitation stronger there than you'd think.

Also, maybe there'a a way to make a drill "take hold", so it would be like turning a screw. What would be necessary then, is to anchor the drill rig and motor so they didn't just spin themselves around the drill shaft.

Maybe these things are why NASA was having trouble perfecting the drill.
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[–] lichnost99 12 years ago

stated greatly...

They never found the second dose!

[–] mikeyg24 12 years ago

Actually guys I just watched it there again and after AJ arrives with the second Armadillo Harry tells Chick to 'lock it down' then a few scenes later we see chick take out this huge contraption and bolt the Armadillo down. Never noticed that before.

Your's sincerely, General Joseph Liebgott

[–] Triple-xXx 12 years ago

I did watch that part again and you are correct.
They do seem to have some form of bolts they use to (as stated above) "lock 'er down".
Ultimately, I still would have to believe it'd be grossly inadequate (gravity or no), however, I'd have to withdraw the comment 'cus they, at least, tried. :)

[~]--------------------[~]
The World is My Oyster...
Completely Shucked!
[~]--------------------[~]

[–] virgiltx 12 years ago

Locking it down is a potential answer, but then there's the issue of how strong the lock-down is. If the rock (or regolith, or whatever) that it's being locked down into is weak, then drilling down might simply push the rig upward and tear out the material holding it. (How solid is the "iron ferrite" plate?)

Another possible method of drilling the bomb down deep is to use a projectile approach, like the burrowing bunker-buster bombs that supposedly exist, although they haven't beed designed to go more than 50-100 feet, I think. The nuke would be contained inside a high speed, super hard, spiraling drillbit-like warhead that would penetrate deeply before detonating.
Ironically, such a device was featured in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997).

Of course that's just mostly SciFi itself at this point, if it really needs to go 800 feet down. But in a desperate situation like Armageddon you'd think that might be a last ditch alternative.
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[–] mikeyg24 12 years ago

Well it seems to be strong enough to bust a drill bit after 10 feet and it was strong enough to get Hound all worked up so it would seem pretty strong but then that begs another question. How effective would the bolt 'gun' have been considering the rest of the equipment was designed for the softer part of the asteroid?

But of course it's all in the name of dramatics.

Your's sincerely, General Joseph Liebgott

[–] Nizzemancer-1 10 years ago

A better approach would be to use high-powered lasers on earth / earth orbit and burn off the surface of the asteroid which would create thrust to push it into a trajectory where it misses us.

Light travels faster than sound,
that's why people seem bright,
until you hear them.

[–] jaystarstar 10 years ago

Maybe if you had 18 years, not 18 days, to stop the asteroid.

As far as the drill is concerned, they should have used pitons and cables to anchor the Armadillos down to the surface of the asteroid.

No way in hell the gravity of the asteroid would have been anything more than about 1% of that of Earth.

================

4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

[–] tryanhas09 10 years ago

That's why they had the fat guy (Max) sitting inside it operating it.

"All we ever see of stars are their old photographs." - Dr. Manhattan

[–] LibertarianSoldier 10 years ago

I could have sworn the first time they were about to start up the rig that they anchored it down. You can see them outting some kind of hydraulic device that sounds like its shooting something into the ground, like an anchor of sorts.

[–] chrichrichri (184) 6 years ago

Besides this gravity issue - it seems really stupid to me that these "drilling experts" drill at a 45 degree angle...