MEGA Industries (MEGA) announces receiving a contract in excess of $2.0MM from Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), a United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory acclaimed for researching particle physics.
The contract is the fifth order MEGA has received from SLAC and part of a billion dollar upgrade approved by the DOE. The upgrade comes after the “extraordinary success” of the SLAC’s renowned Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), which helped researchers address, “A number of grand challenges in science by capturing detailed snapshots of rapid processes that are beyond the reach of other light sources.”
The new upgrades to the facility will take on the name LCLS-II, a “State-of-the-art superconducting accelerator” capable of producing, “8,000 times more light pulses per second than today’s most powerful X-ray laser, LCLS, and an almost continuous X-ray beam that on average will be 10,000 times brighter.” LCLS-II is planned to put into full operation in 2020.
Peter V. Anania, President of MEGA comments, “This contract with SLAC is one of six similar ‘large scale scientific projects’ MEGA will be working on over the next four to five years.” Anania adds, MEGA was chosen due to the company’s, “Unique design and machining skills.”
The order from SLAC comes during an “unprecedented time” for MEGA Industries, as the firm reports record revenues and a push to double its workforce since 2015. The company also made several upgrades to its facility over the last couple of years including 7,500 square feet of manufacturing space with state of the art clean rooms.