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Just days after building an artificial Sun, which is believed to be five times hotter than the real Sun, China has surprised the entire world by creating an artificial Moon to accelerate their ongoing lunar missions. Scientists have used magnets to create a low-gravity research facility that simulates the low-gravity environment on the moon.
Talking about the research facility, Li Ruilin, a geotechnical engineer at the China University of Mining and Technology, told South China Morning Post that the chamber will be filled with rocks and dust to recreate the lunar environment on Earth. “While low gravity can be achieved in an aircraft or a drop tower, it is momentary, and in the simulator, that effect can last as long as you want,” Ruilin said while hailing the first-of-its-kind experiment.
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While Russian-born physicist Andre Geim’s experiment to levitate a frog with a magnet inspired the Chinese scientists to build this facility, Ruilin also highlighted the fact how magnetic levitation is different from anti-gravity on the Moon’s surface. “Magnetic levitation is certainly not the same as antigravity, but there is a variety of situations where mimicking microgravity by magnetic fields could be invaluable to expect the unexpected in space research.”
Hailed as the ‘first of its kind’, the low-gravity facility would help scientists test rovers and other lunar technology before sending it to space. Located in the eastern city of Xuzhou, in Jiangsu province, the chamber would accelerate China’s ongoing lunar missions and help them give the United States tough competition in space.
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Cover Image: Shutterstock
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