The Zhangye Science Museum is located in Zhangye City, Gansu Province. It is an important city level comprehensive science popularization venue in the central part of the Hexi Corridor. It was officially opened to the public in 2020, with a total construction area of 4800 square meters and a permanent exhibition hall area of 2200 square meters. It is equipped with a science popularization lecture hall and a youth science popularization activity room. Complete the upgrade and renovation project of the children's exhibition area in 2023, update multiple sets of old mechanical and electrical exhibits in the children's exhibition area, upgrade the entire control program, and improve the safety protection structure; Complete partial updates of the aerospace science popularization section by 2025, adding several sets of aerospace themed interactive experience devices. The venue implements a free online reservation system for visits, and is open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday for equipment inspection and maintenance, serving various districts and counties under Zhangye City, covering the middle section of the Hexi Corridor, and undertaking the core tasks of local youth science popularization research and grassroots science popularization promotion.
The venue has seven functional exhibition areas, namely the Basic Science Exhibition Hall, Aerospace Science Popularization Exhibition Hall, Life and Health Exhibition Hall, Disaster Prevention and Safety Exhibition Hall, Hexi Silk Road Technology Exhibition Hall, Children's Science Playground, and Temporary Exhibition Hall. The Basic Science Exhibition Hall displays a series of electromechanical interactive exhibitions in mechanics, acoustics, optics, and electromagnetics, providing local primary and secondary school students with hands-on experience of basic science phenomena and concretizing abstract physics knowledge from textbooks. The space science popularization exhibition hall is equipped with space spacecraft models and space simulation experience equipment, aiming to popularize scientific knowledge related to manned spaceflight and deep space exploration to the public and stimulate young people's interest in the space industry. The Life and Health Exhibition Hall conducts science popularization education around the physiological structure of the human body, hygiene and epidemic prevention, and reasonable diet, helping visitors understand the basic knowledge of human operation and establish a healthy lifestyle concept. The disaster prevention and safety exhibition hall fully combines the characteristics of disasters in the northwest region, and sets up earthquake simulation experience devices and fire escape training equipment, allowing visitors to learn practical skills for risk avoidance and self rescue during disasters. The Hexi Silk Road Science and Technology Exhibition Hall belongs to the special exhibition area of this venue, which deeply explores the technological wisdom of ancient astronomical observation, agricultural water conservancy, and handicraft smelting in the Hexi area of the ancient Silk Road. It integrates local historical and cultural resources with modern science popularization education, and creates science popularization content with Zhangye regional identity. The children's science playground is aimed at children aged 3-8, with all exhibit items implementing rounded corner safety protection standards. Multiple experience zones are set up for building games, water experience, and sensory exploration. The temporary exhibition hall will introduce provincial-level science popularization tours from Gansu Province, dynamically rotating exhibition themes, and enriching the exhibition content of the venue. The lecture hall can hold various science popularization related activities such as science popularization lectures, science and technology innovation competition evaluations.
The venue will continue to promote the construction of cooperation between the venue and the school, and connect with primary and secondary schools in Zhangye to develop research-based practical courses that are suitable for local school situations. School groups can book dedicated venue interpretation services for visits. Regularly conducting science experiment shows and science popularization public welfare classes on weekends; During the winter and summer vacations, multiple science and technology study camps will be held to recruit primary and secondary school students throughout the city. The venue is equipped with science popularization caravans, which carry portable science exhibitions and travel to primary and secondary schools in subordinate counties and towns to carry out mobile science popularization. Interactive science popularization resources are delivered to rural campuses to make up for the shortage of grassroots science popularization resources. The venue will also provide business guidance to science popularization stations in surrounding districts and counties, and receive science popularization peers from various regions in the northwest for business exchanges.
Zhangye is located in the northwest inland of China, with a large temperature difference between day and night, and extremely cold temperatures in winter. These climatic conditions can pose significant challenges to the operation of internal components in electromechanical exhibitions. Low temperatures can easily cause a decrease in sensor sensitivity, and temperature changes can accelerate circuit aging. The venue operation and maintenance team shall establish and improve equipment failure records, strictly implement the daily closed door inspection system, carry out in-depth maintenance every month, regularly replace high loss components such as motors, sensors, and controllers, and develop equipment preheating operation plans for low temperatures in winter to reduce the negative impact of climate on the operation of exhibitions and ensure the stable operation of various electromechanical interactive exhibitions. Zhangye Science Museum is based on the cultural characteristics of the Silk Road region, filling the gap in science popularization resources in the central part of Hexi, providing high-quality science popularization services for local youth and ordinary people, and continuously promoting the improvement of scientific literacy among the local population.
Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. participated in the production or customization of core components for some interactive exhibitions in this venue.