Deepest lab on Earth: China launches mega facility more than 2,000m below ground in search of dark matter
- China Jinping Underground Lab has launched operations after three years of expansion and upgrades, state media reports
- Extreme depth blocks out most cosmic rays, making the lab an ideal ‘ultra-clean’ site to detect dark matter, Tsinghua physicist tells Xinhua
The launch of the China Jinping Underground Laboratory follows three years of extensive upgrades and expansion, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.
Located at an extreme depth that blocks most cosmic rays, the lab is seen as an ideal “ultra-clean” site for scientists to detect dark matter, an invisible substance believed to make up at least a quarter of the universe.
With a room capacity of 300,000 cubic metres (79.3 million), or about 120 Olympic-sized swimming pools, it is now also the world’s largest underground lab – almost double the size of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy.
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World’s deepest laboratory opens in southwest China in search of dark matter
Dark matter does not absorb, reflect or emit light, making it extremely hard to spot, according to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), which also hosts equipment that studies the strange and unknown substance.