The research facility can control the gravity inside a vacuum chamber that is 60 centimetres in diameter and make the gravitational pull of the earth “disappear.” The moon has one-sixth of the Earth’s gravity, and developing the ability to control it, despite Earth’s omnipresent gravitational pull, is a significant achievement that can help scientists with future missions to the moon.
The newly built research facility in China can maintain low-gravity conditions for “as long as you want,” Li Ruilin, a geotechnical engineer working at the China University of Mining and Technology, told South China Morning Post.According to scientists, the facility, which is built to augment China’s ongoing lunar exploration program, will be used to extensively test technologies that the scientists plan to send to the moon.