Abstract

Compelling arguments have been made by the scientific community for the development of giant-class astronomical telescopes by the early part of the next century. These systems will have base-line apertures exceeding 24 m with fill factors >25% and weights of the order of 50,000 kg. Multiple launches will be required to deliver the disassembled system to low earth orbit for final assembly prior to boosting it to a higher operational orbit. Clearly such a system can only become a reality if implementation issues such as the deployment, operation, and maintenance costs can be constrained to acceptably low levels and if the architecture of the system has sufficient flexibility to satisfy the widest possible science constituency. Several approaches to configuring giant-class telescope systems are discussed. The optimum handoff point between a fewer number of ground assembled large modules and a larger number of more real-estate efficient smaller components is presented. Aperture configuration is discussed with regard to optical performance, vehicle requirements, and other hardware implementation considerations. Finally the issues associated with transferring the observatory to its higher operational orbit and estimates of revisit times for maintenance, instrument changeout, and evolutionary modification or growth are discussed. A review of the key enabling technologies necessary to design and build, launch, and deploy such a telescope system by the early part of the next century is presented.

© 1986 Optical Society of America