PHYSICS–SUN Heliocomplex

The solar complex PHYSICS-SUN is located in the Parkent district of the Tashkent region, 50 km northeast of the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. Built in the 80s of the last century, the complex still impresses with its fantastic "cosmic" appearance, looking like a launch pad or an alien station.
The complex is located on a rocky hill at an altitude of 1100 m. in the picturesque foothills of the South-Western Tien-Shan.more...

The heliocomplex belongs to the Physics-Sun Institute of the Physics-Technical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan and is dedicated for research in the field of high-energy physics, semiconductor physics, solar energy conversion, solid state theory, the production of refractory metals and refractory ceramics in pure form. Once upon a time, here were tests of the skin of space vehicles and military equipment, and now here is a production line of ceramic products based on materials synthesized in the Big Solar Furnance (BSF), created on the basis of the institute.
The unique technical base of the "Physics-Sun" complex allows us to arrange multi-purpose observations of the Sun and engage not only theoretical, but also experimental research.
The BSF complex consists of a heliostatic field that includes 62 mirror-heliostats with a total area of 3000 square meters, a paraboloid concentrator with a total area of 1840 square meters, reflecting the light flux from the heliostats to the melting chamber, the parametric laboratory and the technological tower. The temperature in the focus of the concentrator exceeds +3000 C, and the concentrated energy reaches a power of 1 Megawatt. This is the biggest solar furnace in the world.