The article puts a lot of weight on the use of pre-existing technology in a new mode for making deep bore holes, and glosses over the engineering challenges that have yet to be solved ("transmitting a clean beam and having it operate at a high energy density without breakdown").

I'm not equipped to judge how difficult those problems will be to overcome in practice. Obviously this would be very cool if it bears out, but it's hard to tell if it will.

I agree the technology does seem down to earth, and they're trying to make it quite practical. I'm also excited.

I just think of so many hurdles...I hope they make it. I originally wrote a huge reply explaining my thinking, but sounded like a rant.

If it works, maybe it can also be used to quickly bore the underground tunnels Musk has been working on. Could be life-changing tech.

Totally agree.