China has activated the largest hypergravity centrifuge, capable of producing forces thousands of times stronger than the Earth’s gravity, reported Interesting Engineering in a Nov. 18 feature. It is located at the Central Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary Facility (CHIEF) in the Future Sci-Tech City in Hangzhou. This was one of the ten major high-tech projects proposed by the Chinese government as part of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).
CHIEF’s hypergravity centrifuges are considered groundbreaking tools for creating extreme physical conditions not typically encountered in everyday environments. These capabilities are expected to advance research across multiple disciplines, enabling scientists to simulate and analyze phenomena such as geological processes, material behaviors, and engineering challenges.
CHIEF will fill a void in super-large hyper-gravity experiment facilities in China. As an indispensable experimentation device, it will provide an advanced experiment platform and offer immense support for the development and verification of major engineering technologies as well as research into cutting-edge matter-related sciences, said Hangzhou’s government in a Dec. 21, 2022 statement.
