Z-Machine

Installed in the desert in New Mexico at the Sandia laboratory the Z-machine is the most powerful X-ray generator in the world. It can expose metals like iron to temperatures of more than 1 billion degrees for a few nanoseconds. The iron is ionised and profoundly modified. A study of this data should make it possible to interpret observations collected by the Chandra telescope in orbit around the Earth. In this way it will help to understand the evolution of the universe and even to assess the risks of extinction.