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Potential Large Decadal Missions Enabled by Nasas Space Launch SystemLarge space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and a LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-Ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8 or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45-mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper reviews the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, discusses potential implications of these capacities for designing large space telescope missions, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.
Document ID
20160010361
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Stahl, H. Philip
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Hopkins, Randall C.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Schnell, Andrew
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Smith, David Alan
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Jackman, Angela
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Warfield, Keith R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2016
Publication Date
June 26, 2016
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
MSFC-E-DAA-TN31875
Meeting Information
Meeting: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Country: United Kingdom
Start Date: June 26, 2016
End Date: July 1, 2016
Sponsors: International Society for Optical Engineering
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 141108.04.02.01.18
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Technology
Space
Mirror
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