The high-performance data center of GSI and FAIR, the Green IT Cube, was awarded the “Blue Angel” as a label of special environmental friendliness. Currently, this makes it the only data center to receive the eco label of the German government. Thanks to a special cooling system, it is particularly energy efficient and conserves resources. The Green IT Cube is one of the most powerful scientific data centers in the world.

The first FAIR storage ring, the so-called CRYRING, is ready to conduct experiments for the scientific research community. CRYRING is an extremely successful ion storage ring that has enabled key research contributions in atomic and molecular physics in Stockholm for many years. It was brought to GSI and FAIR in Darmstadt as a Swedish in-kind contribution.

Intensifying research cooperation, strengthening cutting-edge research and promoting young researchers – these are some of the key goals of the "German-Russian Roadmap for Cooperation in Education, Science, Research and Innovation", which Germany and Russia agreed in December 2018. An important step in this context was the signing of an agreement between the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR).

In February, a delegation of GSI/FAIR near Darmstadt visited the RI Research Instruments GmbH premises in Bergisch Gladbach to inspect the assembly of the SIS100 acceleration systems, so-called accelerator cavities, the company has been contracted to produce for the international accelerator facility FAIR. From a total of 14 ferrite loaded cavities, six systems have now been assembled, three of which have also been acceptance tested.

Another important stage in the FAIR mega project is starting. While the shell construction in the construction area north is progressing continuously, a first major package has now been awarded for the southern construction site. This marks the next decisive steps in the realization of the future accelerator center FAIR, currently being built at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt.

GSI/FAIR uses its research potential and unique infrastructure to contribute to the management of the current corona pandemic. In several areas at GSI/FAIR, scientists are working to provide new insights and technologies that may help to fight the corona virus SARS-CoV-2. To this aim, the accelerators and laboratories on the Darmstadt campus are also being used. The laboratory is operational, while strictly abiding to safety regulations.

A cooperation agreement, a so-called "Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)", was recently signed by the international free-electron X-ray laser European XFEL and the international accelerator center FAIR. Due to the corona crisis, the signing took place in a joint video conference of the involved parties.

The two GSI physicists Marco Durante and Gabriel Martínez-Pinedo have been honored with the prestigious advanced research grant of the European Union. The European Research Council (ERC) awarded them each an "ERC Advanced Grant". The renowned prize underlines the outstanding quality of scientific research at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and the future accelerator center FAIR, which is being built there.

One of our priorities at GSI and FAIR has always been to provide the public with exciting insights into our research facilities, programs and results, and demonstrating the progress made on the construction of FAIR. However, the new situation created by the spread of the corona virus requires new approaches also here. Public guided tours on the campus and to the visitor platform at the construction site cannot be offered at present. Therefore, GSI and FAIR have arranged a digital offer, which…