In a cavernous lab in eastern China, a metal giant is quietly rewriting the rules of gravity. The country has brought online a hypergravity centrifuge so powerful it can crush test materials with forces that would tear most machines apart, turning a once abstract corner of physics into an industrial-scale tool. The project caps a broader national push to control gravity in both directions, from extreme compression to near weightlessness, with clear implications for space exploration, energy, and strategic technology.
What makes this new machine so striking is not only its raw power but the way it fits into a deliberate ecosystem of gravity labs, including an artificial moon chamber and earlier high‑g centrifuges. Taken together, these facilities show how far China is willing to go to simulate environments that do not exist naturally on Earth, and how quickly that ambition is reshaping global research priorities.
The wild machine at the heart of China’s gravity gambit
The new hypergravity facility is built around a colossal centrifuge that can subject test payloads to accelerations far beyond what any rocket or planet can provide. Engineers describe a system that can reach forces on the order of 1,900 times Earth’s gravity, a level that turns ordinary metals into something closer to putty and lets researchers watch geological or structural processes unfold at impossible speed. By spinning samples in a vacuum chamber, the system can compress what would normally be decades or even centuries of stress into hours of controlled testing.
Earlier reporting on the project’s first phase described a “Chief” gravity simulator built for Scientists at Zhejiang University, who plan to use it to probe engineering failures, soil mechanics, and planetary formation. The completed machine, according to technical briefings, is designed to handle massive test loads while maintaining precise control over spin rate and vibration, allowing experiments that range from simulating landslides to testing how heavy materials separate under extreme acceleration. It is this combination of brute force and fine control that has made the centrifuge a focal point of global attention.
How 100× gravity and 46% more power change the research game
Even before the latest upgrade, Chinese teams were already operating a hypergravity system capable of subjecting samples to 100 times Earth’s gravity in a lab, a benchmark that would have been headline‑grabbing on its own. That earlier machine, highlighted in coverage of “China Builds Hypergravity Machine That Creates” 100× Earth’s Gravity In a Lab by Aaron Leong, already allowed researchers to test how materials, electronics, and even biological samples behave when every gram effectively weighs a hundred times more. The new centrifuge goes far beyond that, with technical analyses noting that it is about 46% more extreme in capacity than its predecessor, pushing the frontier of what can be modeled on Earth.
Chinese scientists have described the machine in vivid terms, comparing its long, metal‑laced radial arms and twin baskets to a cosmic‑scale salad spinner that can hurl samples through arcs of crushing acceleration. Reports on the project’s design emphasize how Jan briefings showcased the centrifuge’s ability to recreate conditions inside massive planets or deep geological layers, where gravity and pressure reshape matter in ways that are still poorly understood. By dialing up or down the spin, researchers can move from modest multipliers of Earth’s pull to regimes that rival the interior of gas giants, all without leaving the lab.
Compressing centuries into days: what hypergravity is for
The strategic value of this machine lies in its ability to accelerate time for physical processes that are normally too slow to study. In official descriptions, China’s record‑breaking hypergravity machine is said to compress space and time from century to days, using centrifugal motion to amplify gravitational force on test materials. That means engineers can watch how concrete creeps, how nuclear waste containers might deform, or how subterranean reservoirs shift under load, all within a single research cycle instead of across generations.
Researchers involved with the project have framed their ambition in sweeping terms, saying they aim to create experimental environments that span milliseconds to tens of thousands of years, and atomic to kilometer scales, by tuning the centrifuge’s parameters. Coverage of the facility’s rollout notes that the team wants to bridge everything from micro‑fractures in alloys to the slow settling of sedimentary basins, using the same rotating platform. In one widely cited description, a scientist explained that they hope to simulate processes that would otherwise require field campaigns across remote deserts or deep‑sea trenches, but instead can now be run inside a controlled centrifuge bay.
The artificial moon: China’s low‑gravity mirror image
Hypergravity is only half of the story. In parallel, Chinese researchers have built an artificial moon facility that simulates the low gravity of the lunar surface using powerful magnets and a carefully engineered test chamber. Early descriptions of the project explained that China Building this Artificial Moon Facility That Simulates Low Gravity With Magnets would allow astronauts and robots to rehearse walking, drilling, and operating in a bulky space suit without ever leaving Earth. The chamber’s interior landscape, supported by a magnetic field and inspired by classic experiments that levitated a frog, is designed to mimic the feel of lunar regolith underfoot.
Reports on the artificial moon note that the test bed’s Landscape is only about 2 feet in diameter, but within that small circle, engineers can reproduce the one‑sixth gravity of the real moon with remarkable fidelity. Analysts have pointed out that Any tech destined for the lunar surface must be designed to work under those conditions, and that Any experiment that is hard to run on the actual moon becomes far easier in a lab that can be switched on and off. Chinese commentators have framed the facility as a significant achievement for researchers, with Chinese scientists arguing that it will help prepare for future lunar missions and long‑term human settlement.
A gravity toolkit with clear strategic stakes
Viewed together, the hypergravity centrifuge and the artificial moon chamber form a kind of gravity toolkit that spans from near‑zero to crushing extremes. Commentators have noted that China Built an Artificial Moon Research Centre on Earth precisely to integrate these capabilities, tying low‑gravity testing to broader goals in space exploration and resource extraction. Policy briefs on the program describe how the artificial moon chamber, the hypergravity machines, and related labs are being woven into a national roadmap that includes lunar bases, asteroid mining concepts, and advanced materials research.
Domestic analysts have also emphasized the symbolic dimension of this work. One overview of the artificial moon project, labeled as a Description of “ARTIFICIAL MOON BY CHINA,” framed the facility as part of a long‑term plan for human settlement on the moon, arguing that mastering both low and high gravity environments is essential for that ambition. International coverage, including a widely shared piece by Victor Tangermann, has highlighted how the new hypergravity machine in particular signals that China is willing to invest heavily in infrastructure that compresses research timelines and reduces dependence on foreign test facilities. For rivals and partners alike, the message is clear: gravity itself is becoming a domain of technological competition, and Beijing intends to be at the center of it.
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