Located in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, it is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites.

When covered with water, this extraordinary place becomes one of the largest mirrors on Earth.