Special status of some physicists in France
This other kind of permanent position is very specific to a few fields of science such as astronomy, geology and probably a few other ones.

While usual permanent positions (such as something-professor) imply research and teaching, these positions add a new commitment : "observation service". 1/3 of the time should be dedicated to operate big equipments (telescope for example) for gathering and analysing data that will be useful to the community. For astronomy it implies missions on telescope sites for instance.