Ten years from now, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch Athena, an X-ray telescope that is intended to discover black holes hidden in the immensity of space and is expected to be the largest ever built. Until that happens, many steps need to be taken. One of them will be in Cerdanyola del Vallès, where a key and cutting-edge scientific infrastructure for research is located. From the Alba Synchrotron, tests will be carried out to simulate the operation of this telescope, with the aim of guaranteeing the success of the mission when it is launched.
To be able to carry out these tests, the synchrotron has been designing a new beamline in its facilities for a year, which will be called Minerva, nodding to the telescope by using the name the Romans gave to the Greek goddess Athena. This will be the first line built in the Catalan infrastructure dedicated to space research and the first in the world focused on satellite production, explains Alba's Head of Engineering, Joan Casas.
Specifically, Alba will act as a test platform during the assembly and characterization of the mirror that will be inside the telescope. This piece, in turn, will be made up of more than 600 mirror modules, which are what will allow the necessary resolution for the telescope to analyze space. The synchrotron will allow these modules to be fixed in their optimal position. The results obtained from Cerdanyola will serve the Dutch company Cosine, which manufactures Athena's mirrors.
The design of the new line is about to be approved and, when it is, assembly will have to begin, with the forecast that it will come into operation next year. Casas estimates that it will take between three and four years to place the 600 modules that will make up the future mirror of the telescope. The definition and construction of the line has involved an investment of 2.5 million euros, with 1.5 million contributed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the remaining million by the ESA. To this figure will be added the contract that Alba will receive for the exploitation of the line for ten years.
Alba accelerates its growth
The Alba was inaugurated in 2010 with a total of seven beamlines, each with a specific technology and purpose. These lines receive the light generated by the acceleration of electrons, which is used to analyze samples and obtain information through the interaction that is generated. Biology, medicine, nanotechnology, environment, and energy are some of the research areas covered by the synchrotron, to which space is now added.
After an initial period without adding more beamlines, the synchrotron has been gaining a new line every year since 2014, says Alba director, Caterina Biscari. Currently, there are already eight operational, and two more will start functioning this year. To all this, Minera and two more lines under construction will be added.
"There is space for many lines," emphasizes Biscari, adding that this growth is accompanied by the transformation of Alba into a fourth-generation synchrotron ---it is now third-generation---. This improvement of the facilities will allow for the generation of brighter light and more advanced analysis. The construction of the new synchrotron, Alba II, is expected to begin this year and finish in 2028.