In a historic stride for experimental science, the Chinese mainland on Monday unveiled CHIEF1300, the world's largest hypergravity centrifuge by capacity. This colossal machine can generate up to 300 times Earth's gravity (300G) while accommodating loads of up to 20 tonnes.
Located in Hangzhou, in eastern Zhejiang Province on the Chinese mainland, CHIEF1300 is a core component of the Centrifugal Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary Experiment Facility (CHIEF). Developed by Zhejiang University, the facility currently includes three centrifuges and 18 in-flight devices across six experimental cabins – designed to push the limits of frontier research.
From deep-ocean and deep-Earth resource extraction to disaster mitigation, underground waste disposal, and the synthesis of novel materials, hypergravity experiments can unlock solutions to some of today's toughest challenges. To put it in perspective: a roller-coaster briefly exposes riders to 2G, astronauts feel over 5G during launch, but CHIEF1300 is engineered to sustain accelerations of up to 1,500G in future configurations.
And this is just the beginning. Two more centrifuges with even greater capacity are already under construction, promising to expand the horizons of material science, energy research, and environmental safety for global innovators and changemakers.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
