Economical 10-Meter-Class Ground-Based Receiver for Deep-Space Optical Communications

Modifications to an existing radiofrequency telescope are described which would enable it to operate as an R&D optical receiver terminal for deep-space communications. The low overall cost of the telescope is due to the unique process of fabricating the 10.4 meter primary mirror and its support structure, the lightweight of the primary (10-11 kg/m2), and the requirement that the telescope act only as a photon bucket, which lowers the cost of optically figuring and polishing the mirror. The entrie optical ground terminal facility is estimated to cost approximately $10M to construct.