China's first underground space station

The new facility, capable of simulating nine types of space station environmental factors, allows for a variety of space experiments to be conducted right here on Earth.

The Space Environment Simulation and Research Infrastructure (SESRI), dubbed China's first ground-based space station, passed its acceptance evaluation in Harbin, capital of northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province, on February 27.

"This achievement means that many experiments that previously had to be carried out in space can now take place on the ground," said Li Liyi, head of the Institute of Space Environment and Materials Science at the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT).

The ground space station is jointly built by HIT and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. There are four experimental buildings in the construction site: comprehensive space environment, space plasma science, space magnetic environment science, and animal breeding facility.

According to the plan, the ground space station can simulate nine types of space environment factors such as vacuum, high and low temperature, charged particles, electromagnetic radiation, space dust, plasma, weak magnetic field, neutral gas and microgravity. The station can help explain the mechanism and law of the impact of the space environment on materials, equipment, systems and even living organisms.

Compared to sending equipment and instruments into space, a ground-based space station saves costs, reduces risks, and provides the ability to control certain environmental factors based on scientific and technical requirements. This allows for repeated studies without time or space limitations.

The ground space station plays an important role in making scientific and technological breakthroughs, transforming and upgrading the industry, and cultivating high-level talents in China, according to Han Jiecai, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the future, HIT will continuously optimize its technical indicators and improve the scientific level of the station to contribute to China's process of becoming a space superpower.

As of June 2023, many Chinese and international scientists are competing to use the ground space station for scientific experiments. More than 110 organizations have signed contracts, including more than 30 countries and regions.

Thu Thao (According to ECNS )

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