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I am quite optimistic about some of the high energy non-mechanical drilling methods being developed. Conventional drilling necessitates the use of water/mud to constantly flush out of the pulverized rock. Some of the newer methods vaporize the rock and then exhaust it out as a gas. This allows drilling to depths where the mud would typically boil off.

https://www.quaise.energy/news/major-demo-keeps-quaise-energ...

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Mud isn't just to flush out cuttings. It's also to support the borehole. At large depths, you can't keep an open borehole and the "high energy" methods can't work because the borehole will collapse in on itself as it's created. Rocks are quite weak in tension. Drilling mud is dense and offsets the stresses trying to close to borehole as you get deeper.

Reminds me of Subselene, the plan for to send a nuclear-powered thermal-bore on the moon.

https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5262838-subselene-nuclear-powere... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28561236