MLIT Leaders participate in the start of the first session at NICA On March 25, 2025, MLIT Director Sergey Shmatov and MLIT Scientific Leader Vladimir Korenkov took part in the ceremonial start of the first session at the NICA accelerator complex. The event was held in the presence of plenipotentiary representatives of the Member States, participating in the JINR CP session. The run is to last for about six months and end with the collision of xenon (Xe) beams at their interaction point in the MPD Hall. The run will involve the KRION-6T Ion Source, linear accelerator, Booster, Nuclotron, BM@N Facility. Then, the cooling of magnets, adjustment of the transport and beam injection channels into the collider, and beam circulation will take place. "For 19 years we have been working towards this historic moment. We are all waiting for the data from the first physics experiments, when we will see the colliding beams on the screens in the control room. I think that it will happen this summer, in July-August," said JINR Director, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov.
