Hangzou Government
The infrastructure of the CHIEF project
New facility wants to help scientists understand diverse processes, from mountain formation to catastrophic infrastructure collapses.
A Centrifugal Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary Experiment Facility (CHIEF), based in Hangzhouin China, has been described as “the most advanced hypergravity machine in the world”explains the
According to Chinese media, this installation is capable of striking forces that exceed the natural gravity of the Earth’s surface by thousands of timesand want to help science develop research into processes such as mountain formation or infrastructure collapses.
In a document released by the Hangzhou government announcing the project in 2021, it is said that CHIEF will “fill a gap in the installations of large-scale hypergravity experiments in China”, as it is “a revolutionary engineering device”.
The device takes advantage of the compression of time and space, also describes the statement, “as well as accelerated phase separation to take scientific research to a new level.”
The device’s construction (which would have cost around 261.5 million euros) was approved six years ago by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and began construction in 2020and is now ready to use.
The structure is composed of a trio of hypergravity centrifuges accompanied by 18 onboard units, but informed him that two additional centrifuges and 10 onboard units are currently still being constructed at the facility.
As centrifuges are machines specially designed to induce hypergravity conditions through very rapid rotation.
In the past, astronauts trained inside centrifuges to prepare for the extreme gravitational forces they would encounter during spaceflight, which could even lead to loss of consciousness and spatial disorientationespecially during extreme acceleration.
The recently completed CHIEF, which is expected to operate with a capacity of 1,900 gt, will then significantly exceed the 1,200 gt capacity of the United States Army Corps of Engineers centrifuge (USACE), which until now was the most powerful centrifuge in the world.
“As an indispensable experimentation device, it will provide a advanced experimentation platform and will provide enormous support for the development and verification of key engineering technologies,” says the recent Chinese government statement, cited by SCMP.
