The linear plasma device PSI-2 serves as a pilot experiment for the development of components, operational regimes and control systems for the linear plasma device JULE-PSI, which will be located in the nuclear environment allowing studies of radioactive and toxic samples. PSI-2 is also used for fusion reactor relevant plasma-material interaction studies. This contribution describes the PSI-2 layout and parameters and summarizes the recent scientific and technical progress in the project, including the installation of a target station for the sample manipulation and analyses.