Gizmodo: tunnels

Newly Discovered Hole On Moon Leads To Network Of Tubes

Rosa Golijan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:40:00 EDT

Images have revealed a hole on the Moon's surface that is at least 260 feet deep and may lead to an underground tunnel more than 1,200 feet wide which is part of an entire network of such winding tubes.

Scientists are hoping for clearer shots from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, but the impression so far is that such a tunnel network could provide shelter for astronauts or potential future Moon colonists. I just plain wonder if they could combine it with the recent discovery of water for one kickass underground waterpark. [New Scientist via Pop Sci]

Calling All Wannabe Dr. Evil's: Super Secret London Tunnel Lair For Sale

Jack Loftus — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST

Last Sunday we were writing about amazing underground diving rigs in the heart of New York City. It seems only fair that we jump across the pond this Sunday and write about a mile-long super secret ~~tunnel~~ lair below London that's currently for sale, don't you think? Asking price: A cool $7.4 million. It sounds a bit much for an empty stretch of nothingness deep below the British streets, but wait until you hear about the history. Oh, the history!

This tunnel is actually one of eight built by the British government during World War 2 as a network of bomb shelters to protect citizens from the German blitz. They could hold 8,000 people and were designed to function for five weeks without any assistance from the outside world. This "protection" even included "a bar and two canteens, not in use, and a billiard room, not to mention functioning water and electricity supplies," reports the New York Times.

However, after their completion, the tunnels were held aside to serve as secret bases of operations for soldiers. They were never used as shelters. Instead, they served as a temporary base for D-Day troops; one even became the European HQ for U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later, in 1944, the tunnels became bastions of counterintelligence, as members of the secret service used them to coordinate resistance movements in Nazi-controlled countries. The tunnels, once filled with Normandy invaders, were decked out with spy gear, telephones and teleprinters.

Today, though, the tunnels are empty, and waiting for some rich playboy real estate tycoon to swoop in and buy them up. Won't you take up that standard, and invite us poor gadget-loving folk to a few parties below the busy London streets? Please? [New york Times]

Russian Billionaire Buys World's Largest Drill, Swears He Won't Drill To America

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:20:00 EDT

The following is not the plot to an upcoming Bond film: Russian bootstrap billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich announced that his construction company, Infrastruktura, would spend $160 million on the world's largest drill. The drill, five meters wider than the current champ, built by the same German concern, Herrenknecht, would be used to improve the grounds around the Black Sea resort of Sochi, site of 2014 Olympics and favorite hangout of both Stalin and Putin. The company says it will not be used to drill a subterranean roadway from Far Eastern Russia to Alaska. Not yet, at least.

According to the Daily Mail:

There was speculation the soccer boss may have bought the machine in league with Putin in the hope of gaining approval from America for a plan both men are said to have long savoured—building a tunnel from the frozen wastes of the Russian region of which Abramovich is governor, Chukotka, to Alaska beneath the Bering Strait.

A spokesman for Infrastruktura dispelled the rumor, saying:"This drill project is unconnected to any plans in [Chukotka]. The drill will be used in Moscow, Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and other [err, unnamed] Russian cities."

But then he added: "Before building a tunnel between [Chukotka] and Alaska, there should be a road built between Anadyr, the capital of Chutotka, and the rest of Russia."

So, like, once the road is built...what? Presumably the spokesman then only put his pinky in his mouth and began to laugh diabolically. [Daily Mail]