In 2021, the BEATS project delivered its promises, achieved the scheduled milestones and made considerable progress towards the imminent reality of the first tomography beamline in the Middle East. Despite the inconveniences that have shaken our lives and knocked our schedules off track since the beginning of the pandemic, 2021 was a good year for BEATS!
Here’s a look back at our journey in 2021.
Laying the foundationsThe year began with a huge clear out as a laboratory and two convenience units were demolished at SESAME to make way for the tomography beamline. |
The experimental hall was then consolidated with a thick slab of reinforced concrete and finished with a layer of epoxy. |
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| In October, the SESAME survey team prepared the reference frame for alignment and marked the ground for the beamline in the Front-End.
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Extensive work on the data acquisition systems led to the first successful test with visible light tomography in November. The scientists used a metallic spring as a sample.
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Placing the first building blocksDespite disruptions and huge delays in shipping due to the pandemic, the BEATS project is still on time and within budget. Source: procurement of the 3-pole wiggler, manufacture at Kyma in Slovenia and Trieste. Preliminary magnetic measurements started in September 2021.
Double-layer monochromator: FDR completed and call for tender launched early 2021. Under manufacture with CINEL in Italy with delivery planned for summer 2022. Front-Ends: contract awarded to JJ X-ray in Denmark in April. Delivery May 2022. Beamline hutches: design by ALBA, ESRF and INFN, manufacture by Innospec in Germany. Delivery Jan 2022 (they have arrived!) Computing infrastructure: contract signed with Jordanian company General Computers and Electronics (GCE) in October 2021 for the supply, installation and commissioning of the computing infrastructure. Computing hardware:procurement complete. Delivery in 2022.
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Components arrive on siteIn June, the ESRF shipped a container packed with components for BEATS: primary slits, ion pump, bellows, gate valves, beam monitors, vacuum gauges, motorized support frame.
The first part of the detector stage was shipped from ESRF to SESAME in November.
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Building the user communityIn February, the SESAME SAC endorsed the BEATS Science Case opening the doors wide to the user community from the Middle East and beyond.
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In November, the Palestinian-German Science Bridge (PGSB) and SESAME workshop brought together almost 80 participants interested in the research opportunities at SESAME’s beamlines.
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| Our experts presented the Data Acquisition and Analysis at the JEEIT (International Joint Conference on Electrical Engineering and Information Technology) in November.
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A big “♥ thank you ♥” to all our twitter followers! In 2021, for the second year running, we doubled the size of our twitter community (our popularity is spreading like a pandemic!). Tell your friends and follow us!! @BEATSeu1 #BEATSisReal
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The people pulling it all togetherMany people from Middle East and throughout Europe are working to make BEATS a reality. In 2021, the second part of our webseries, #WorkingTogetherAtBEATS, highlighted some of the many talents behind BEATS at SESAME. If you missed it, don’t worry, all the portraits are still in the news section of this site.
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The second annual meeting of BEATS was held, remotely, in February, bringing together the members of the different work packages and steering committee from our member institutes.
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Thank you for your continued support of BEATS. 2022 is another BIG year for the project. Keep checking back to our site for the latest updates and follow us on Twitter for fast news straight to your device @BEATSeu1 #BEATSisReal