Artificial moon China 2022: China has built an artificial low-gravity research facility where the gravity can be controlled with the use of powerful magnets by scientists to such low levels that it can successfully simulate the moon’s gravity.
As per Li Ruilin of the China University of Mining and Technology, the low-gravity research facility, which will be officially launched in the coming months, can make the gravity disappear in an effect that can ‘last as long as you want’. Ruilin also added that the chamber is the first of its kind in the world and it will be filled with dust and rocks to simulate the lunar surface.
Significance
1. The moon has one-sixth of the Earth’s gravity, and developing the ability to control it, despite the omnipresent gravitation pull on the Earth, is a major achievement that will further help scientists with future missions to the moon.
2. The facility which has been established to augment the ongoing lunar exploration program of China will be used to extensively test technologies that the scientists plan to send to the moon.
3. It will also help the scientists work out the technical vulnerabilities in the expensive equipment and also test the durability of instruments.
Low-Gravity research facility in China: Key details
The low-gravity research facility in China can control the gravity inside a vacuum chamber that is 60 centimeters in diameter and can make the gravitational pull of the Earth disappear.
However, because of the small size of the low-gravity research facility, it cannot be used to train astronauts. NASA trains its astronauts for microgravity situations in high-altitude parabolic flights.
How China created low-gravity research facility?According to the scientists, they were inspired by a 1997 experiment that used magnets to completely levitate the frog. As per the original research, most of the ordinary material, including human beings exhibits weak diamagnetism. A diamagnetic object is repelled by the magnetic fields, so, if a diamagnetic object is placed under a strong enough magnetic field, its repulsion can even balance gravity, levitating the object in air and staying that way. |
China’s lunar exploration programme
The results of the low-gravity research facility will be used to inform the lunar exploration programme of China.
Chang’e is named after the Chinese Goddess of the moon. In 2019, Chang’e 4 landed the rover on the far side of the moon, and in 2020 Chang’e 5 gathered rock samples from the moon’s surface as part of this initiative.
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