Beijing [China], January 1: China is breaking its own record in the field of hypergravity research by building a new centrifuge capable of spinning tons of samples at unprecedented intensity.
The super-gravity machine , named CHIEF1900, was manufactured by Shanghai Nuclear Power Group and transported for installation at Zhejiang University in eastern China , according to the South China Morning Post on December 31, 2025.
Once operational, the machine will allow scientists to "compress" space and time, thereby recreating catastrophic events such as dam failures or earthquakes in a laboratory setting.
With a capacity of 1,900 g·tons (g·ton is a unit used in supergravity research, representing the overall capacity of a centrifuge), the CHIEF1900 is expected to become the most powerful centrifuge ever put into use for scientific research.
This machine surpasses CHIEF1300, which is scheduled to enter service in September 2025 with a capacity of 1,300 g·tons and currently holds the world record.
Both machines are located at the CHIEF National Laboratory, situated 15 meters beneath the school campus to minimize vibrations and ensure stable operation. The CHIEF complex was built in 2021 with a budget of 2 billion yuan (US$285 million).
Previously, CHIEF1300 had broken the long-held record of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg (Mississippi) with a machine of approximately 1,200 g·tons. For comparison, a household washing machine rarely exceeds 2 g·tons in a single spin cycle.'
Everything on Earth is subject to gravity and centrifugal force as it rotates. By generating forces hundreds or even thousands of times stronger than Earth's gravity, machines like CHIEF can "compress" time and space, allowing the study of phenomena that would normally take decades or span kilometers to investigate in laboratory conditions.
For example, to assess the structural stability of a 300-meter-high dam, scientists can build a 3-meter-high model and rotate it at 100 g·tons. This arrangement accurately replicates the level of stress that a real dam would experience under actual conditions.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
