Large diameter centrifuge

The large diameter centrifuge, or LDC, is any centrifuge extending several meters, which can rotate samples to change their acceleration in space to enhance the effect of gravity. Large diameter centrifuges are used to understand the effect of hyper-gravity on biological samples, including and not limiting to plants, organs, bacteria, and astronauts or non-biological samples to undertake experiments in the field of fluid dynamics, geology, biochemistry and more.

Description

Frequently, "LDC" is used to refer to the centrifuge at the European Space Agency (ESA)'s campus known as ESTEC. This is an 8-m diameter, four-arm centrifuge covered by a dome, which is available for research. A total of six gondolas, each being able to carry an 80 kg payload, can spin at a maximum of 20 times Earth's gravity, equaling 67 revolutions per minute. Full technical specification are available for free at the ESA website.

Competition and grants

The European Space Agency and UNOOSA lets students compete with a research proposal for the use of the LDC. These competitions are known as the 'Spin Your thesis!'. When the proposal is accepted, they are guided at ESA/ESTEC to use the LDC. Support is given for a variety of different fields including biology, physics and chemistry.