Status of the SPARX FEL project

The first phase of the SPARX project, now funded by MIUR (Research Department of Italian Government), is an R&D activity focused on developing techniques and critical components for future X-ray FEL facilities. This project is the natural extension of the activities under development within the ongoing SPARC collaboration. The aim is the generation of electron beams characterized by an ultra-high peak brightness with a linear accelerator based on the upgrade of the existing Frascati 800 MeV LINAC and to drive a single pass FEL experiment in the range of 3-5 nm, both in SASE and SEEDED FEL configurations, exploiting the use of superconducting and exotic undulator sections. In this paper we discuss the present status of the collaboration.