Quaise Energy Achieves Drilling Milestone with Millimeter Wave Technology
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HOUSTON — Quaise Energy, a leading developer of grid-scale superhot geothermal energy, today announced it has successfully drilled to a depth of 100 meters using its proprietary millimeter wave technology at its field site in Central Texas. This achievement sets a record for millimeter wave drilling and marks a major step forward in unlocking the Earth's vast geothermal energy as a scalable, baseload energy source.
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Quaise's millimeter wave drilling system, developed after more than a decade of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), harnesses a powerful gyrotron to ablate rock for the first time without any downhole hardware. Unlike conventional drill bits, which struggle with hard, hot, rocks like granite and basalt, millimeter wave technology allows access to superhot rock—around 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400℃)—typically found deep within the Earth's subsurface.
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Accessing hotter rock deeper underground enables Quaise geothermal plants to generate many times more energy than traditional geothermal – opening up grid-scale projects that can match the power output of major fossil fuel plants.
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'The Earth holds an enormous reservoir of clean energy — energy that could fundamentally change how we power our world if we can reach it,' said Carlos Araque, CEO and President of Quaise Energy. 'Quaise has now demonstrated that millimeter wave technology can do what no other technology can do: drill perfectly clean holes through some of the hardest rocks on Earth in record time. This milestone brings us closer to making geothermal energy a practical solution to power communities virtually anywhere.'
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Prior to 2025, millimeter wave drilling had only been demonstrated in the laboratory, with MIT's early system drilling a hole just a few centimeters deep. While 100 meters is only a fraction of the commercial depth needed for the company's first power plants, the granite drilled during the field test is the same type of hard rock that blankets the basement layer of the Earth's crust. Drilling efficiently through the basement layer is the only way to unlock superhot geothermal worldwide.
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The company plans to build on this achievement with an upcoming gyrotron using 10x more power. Quaise further expects to complete a pilot power plant in the Western U.S. as early as 2028.
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'Our progress this year has exceeded all expectations,' added Araque. 'We're drilling faster and deeper at this point than anyone believed possible, proving that millimeter wave technology is the only tool capable of reaching the superhot rock needed for next-generation geothermal power. We are opening up a path to a new energy frontier.'
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About Quaise Energy
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Quaise Energy is unlocking the Earth's deep heat to deliver clean, reliable, always-on energy at scale – almost anywhere in the world. As both a technology innovator and project developer, Quaise builds and operates solutions that harness superhot geothermal energy far below the surface, enabling power generation that can rival the output of today's most efficient fossil fuel and nuclear plants. Founded at MIT, Quaise's mission is to make superhot geothermal a backbone of the modern energy system, offering affordable, zero-carbon power and true energy independence for communities and nations everywhere.
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Researchers evaluated the food items as rated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) FoodData Central database, an information bank with 375,000 kinds of food products. Boston saw the strongest results from the study's AI-based method. With a high match rate of 71 per cent between restaurant menu items and the USDA food database. They found that areas with more dietary fibre on menus tended to have lower obesity rates. Wealthier neighbourhoods also had better access to high-fibre, healthier foods. In London, the study revealed similar patterns. Low fibre availability in restaurant food correlated with higher obesity rates. Researchers also found a strong link between housing prices – a stand-in for income – and healthier food environments. London had a slightly lower match rate of 56 per cent with the U.S. food database. The lower match was partly due to differences in food terms like 'chips' versus 'French fries.' The analysis in Dubai was less conclusive, with only 42 per cent of the menu items successfully matched to U.S. nutrition data. Researchers couldn't draw strong links between restaurant food and rental prices or nutrition levels. The lack of culturally specific data – like Arabic food items not found in the U.S. database – was a major limitation. However, one district, Al Ttay, stood out for having the lowest fibre content in the analysis, which the researchers flagged as a potential red flag for future obesity risk. How it works Pinpointing where nutrient deserts are could help drive policies to close the health equity gap, Mollaei suggested. To better understand the quality of food being offered in restaurants, researchers used two tools called the Meal Balance Index (MBI) and the Nutrient-Rich Foods Index (NFR). The MBI looks at how much of each key nutrient – like protein, fibre or sodium – is in a meal compared to how many calories it has. It then compares that to daily recommended amounts and assigns a score based on how well the meal meets those targets. A higher meal MBI means the meal is more balanced and nutritious, while a lower score suggests it may be lacking important nutrients or has too much of others. The NFR score looks at the good stuff – like fibre, protein and calcium, as well as the less healthy ones like saturated fat, added sugars and sodium. The higher the NFR score, the healthier the food is considered. By measuring nutrients per 100 calories, it allowed for comparisons across different foods no matter the portion size. Camps said it was surprising to see how difficult and easy it was to assess health from a menu. 'Cheesecake is probably always too high in saturated fats/sugar and an unhealthy option, but caesar salad can be relatively healthy and low calorie but also lathered in dressing with bread and bacon and therefore not especially healthy,' Camps shared in his email. 'If it is difficult for us to judge how healthy your dish is based on the available public data, it's also difficult for the average consumer to assess who may want to make a healthy choice. Calorie and nutritional info may help in this regard, but that is not standard to give in menus throughout all cities,' he added. Affordability a major factor Camps said while they cannot conclude causation between lower menu prices and higher calorie density in cities with greater obesity prevalence, affordability may influence customers food choices and what restaurants choose to offer. 'Lower prices may make high-calorie options more accessible and appealing, especially in areas where budget constraints are more common,' Camps said, adding that further research is needed to explore this economic factor. Mollaei said when affordability and accessibility are at stake, food environments play a crucial role in shaping the choices people make. While menu labelling regulations exist in provinces like Ontario – where restaurants must show calorie counts and flag items high in sugar, sodium or fat – she says these measures alone may not shift consumer habits. 'If it's not affordable or accessible, then even changing the menu items is not going to have a big impact or change consumption patterns.' Mollaei believes studies like the one from MIT, which use AI to analyze restaurant menus in real time, could offer a 'more dynamic' way to assess Canada's food landscape. 'It will give us insight into what's actually available and accessible to people at a very granular level,' she said. 'You don't want to fall into that loop – low-income, low-quality food, no other options – because people will keep going back to what's there,' she added.
