US Patent Issued to Massachusetts Institute of Technology on March 24 for "Continuous emissions monitor for directed-energy borehole drilling" (Massachusetts Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,584,861, issued on March 24, was assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.).

"Continuous emissions monitor for directed-energy borehole drilling" was invented by Paul P. Woskov (Bedford, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Apparatus and methods for monitoring emissions from a borehole to determine the composition of earthen material removed from the borehole are described. Monitoring can be done in real time as the borehole is being deepened with a millimeter-wave drilling beam. The present technology can monitor in real-time the elemental composition of the earthen materials (e.g., rock, minerals, crystals, m...