  The recent discovery of binary neutron star mergers has opened a new and
exciting venue of research into hot and dense strongly interacting matter. For
the first time this elusive state of matter, described by the theory of quantum
chromo dynamics, can be studied in two very different environments. On the
macroscopic scale in the collisions of neutron stars and on the microscopic
scale in collisions of heavy ions at particle collider facilities. We will
discuss the conditions that are created in these mergers and the corresponding
high energy nuclear collisions. This includes the properties of QCD matter,
i.e. the expected equation of state as well as expected chemical and
thermodynamic properties of this exotic matter. To explore this matter in the
laboratory - a new research prospect is available at the Facility for
Antiproton and Ion Research, FAIR. The new facility is being constructed
adjacent to the existing accelerator complex of the GSI Helmholtz Center for
Heavy Ion Research at Darmstadt/Germany, expanding the research goals and
technical possibilities substantially. The worldwide unique accelerator and
experimental facilities of FAIR will open the way for a broad spectrum of
unprecedented research supplying a variety of experiments in hadron, nuclear,
atomic and plasma physics as well as biomedical and material science which will
be briefly described.
