MHI's high-tech derrick facilitates drilling on a moving sea.

A key technological difference between the Chikyu and earlier scientific drillships is the riser system using large-diameter outer pipes, called "risers," connecting the ship to the seabed and serving as conductors for mud fluid. Previous drillships, without riser systems, have been unable to reach much beyond two kilometers (2,000 meters) beneath the seabed. The advanced drilling techniques enabled by the riser system enhance the ability of scientists on the Chikyu to reach as far as seven kilometers into the earth's crust, revealing many more of its secrets.

  To protect the ship, persons on board and the surrounding marine
environment from blow-out gas, oil and other formation substances the drill may encounter, the hole is sealed by a structure called a "blowout preventer."
  The riser system with mud circulation, which controls and keeps the bore hole condition stable, makes it possible to retrieve the deep core samples. Additionally, for technical reasons, the borehole made possible by the riser operation is much larger than one made by riserless drilling. This makes it easy for researchers to lower instruments into the hole to capture images of rock formations, and take various other measurements. We are waiting for the day the earth's mysteries are revealed by Chikyu with MHI's technology.