The SOLARIS Center is beginning cooperation with the Malopolska Science Center Cogiteon. The main goal is to bring the fascinating world of science closer to the public. The first joint activities take place during this year's Małopolska Researchers Night. Long-term cooperation includes consultation of the Laboratory of Particles and the Innovation Laboratory.

The Hyperion 3000 FT-IR microscope has been completed with the last component, the Focal Plane Array detector (128x128 pixels), and is now available for test measurements for users. Ultimately, the microscope, when coupled to the synchrotron beam, will be one of the two end stations of the CIRI beamline. Future users are encouraged to contact the beamline team for test measurements.

On 29 June 2022, the official opening ceremony was held for the ASTRA beamline (formerly SOLABS), a beamline dedicated to measurements using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in the energy range of 1 keV to 15 keV. The ceremony was attended by a number of distinguished guests along with the international team involved in building the beamline.

Once again SOLARIS Centre took part in Małopolska Festival of Innovations. The only synchrotron in Poland opened its doors to everyone interested in the IT industry. Michał Fałowski, Control Systems and Software Section Coordinator, talked about the challenges the SOLARIS team faces on a daily basis.

Just recently, another milestone for the ASTRA beamline was reached by detecting the first light with the detector system of an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. This unique, compact, and specially designed vacuum X-ray spectrometer for high energy resolution fluorescence detection was recently added to the beamline and is now in the commissioning phase. The team of experts consisting of Prof. Josef Hormes, Prof. Tonya Vitova and Dr Jörg Rothe with the support of SOLARIS Team and Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce Team installed the spectrometer at the end of May.