Another Set of Cool Research Facilities

Odeillo Solar Furnace, Odeillo, France.
Built in 1969, this brilliantly shiny oddity is the 8-Story high Odeillo solar furnace in France: at present the largest on the planet. the 63 smaller mirrors on the hillside reflect the sun onto the huge parabolic reflector you see in the photos, this in turn reflecting the solar radiation very precisely onto a point just 18 meters in front of the parabola. Using this method, temperatures can reach an unbelievably hot 3400°C. The incredible amount of heat generated by the furnace is used for research in many areas including high temperature solar engineering (advanced solar power systems, solar chemistry, etc.), photo-physics and chemistry applied physics. LINK