Platform lift at Paranal MMB

Detail of the platform lift at the Mirror Maintenance Building (MMB) at ESO's Paranal Observatory. The MMB is the place where the recoating of the VLT's mirrors takes place. This platform lift is used to separate the main 8.2-metre mirror from its supporting cell, before it goes into the clean room, where the chemical washing and the recoating itself take place. Each 8.2-metre primary mirror weighs 23 tonnes.